Welcome To My Life
by nikkiclyneZX15
Summary: My life is supposed to perfect. I have the best friends in the world, am dating the love of my life and am one of the most popular girls in the school. So why do i feel like there's something big missing?. Follow Nikki in her own point of view as she goes through her last year of high school and discovers who she can really love and trust
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – The Beginning

(Nikki's POV)

'Beep! Beep! Beep!'

I groan in irritation as my alarm rudely pulls me from my deep slumber. I force one eye open to peek at the time and am disappointed to find that it is indeed time to get up for school. Reaching over, I punch down on my noise-making clock to cease the annoying sound. Once there is silence I sit up in my large bed and stretch my arms above my head, at the same time letting out a big yawn. I turn to stare outside, pleased to see bright sunrays streaming through the curtains. Seems today is going to be the mark of a promising year.

You see…today is the day that I, seventeen-year-old Nikki Clyne, begin my final year of school at the well known Archangel High. Life is considerably content there, I have a group of great friends that I hang around each and every single day, and for the past six months have been dating one of the most popular guys in school. One would think I have the most perfect life right? Well that's what I'm constantly trying to convince myself, but lately I've been having this nagging feeling that something is missing…but can't seem to figure it out.

"Nikki! Are you ready to go? Jas, Jen and Echo are waiting!"

Oh yeah, the one other person in my life that keeps me sane; my younger and only sibling Lacus. The only trait that shows we're even remotely related is our looks, but our personalities couldn't be anymore opposite. We're about as different as fire and ice if you can believe it. Lacus stands at an average height with long pink hair that falls down to just below her tailbone. I am over a foot taller than her, with the same wavy but brown hair that, when let down, flows all the way down to my knees…so what if I never had it cut? The one and only feature we share is the bright blue eyes we both inherited from our mother.

"NIKKI!"

Oh yeah I suppose I should hurry up.

"Alright I'm coming!"

After hastily getting dressed, I grab my bag and race out of my room and down the stairs to find my sister in her usual neatly groomed fashion, her hands on her hips and a foot tapping impatiently on the floor. I gulp, never good when Lacus loses her cool.

I grin sheepishly at her. "I'm ready to go."

She raises an eyebrow. "Did you wake up at the last minute again?"

I give her my most innocent expression. "Now why would I go and do a thing like that?"

She lets out a sigh before turning towards the door. I take that as a narrow escape from her wrath and follow her outside, locking the door as I go. I turn back around to see three figures, minus Lacus, waiting for us outside our gate, one of which is waving enthusiastically at me.

"Morning Nikki!"

I grinned. That is one of my best friends, Jennifer West. She is probably the most bubbly and outgoing person in our group, it's never boring around her, her striking red hair and green eyes seem to let the rest of the world know as well. But her loud mouth and personality does the job well enough anyway.

Standing next to her and holding her hand is a tall, good looking (I'll never tell him this) blonde guy with twinkling blue eyes. He turns his affectionate gaze from Jenny to me, his expression turning into a cocky smirk. I roll my eyes at him. That so called attractive male is none other than other one of my best friends, Jason Kazahana. We've been friends with him for as long as I can remember and we've basically grown up as siblings. One of our favourite hobbies was to annoy the living crap out of each other. Seeing him as the brother I never had, I was happy when Jenny came into his life. The two of them clicked instantly and have been inseparable ever since, I couldn't be happier for them. But he can still be an annoying git most of the time, he has the bruise to prove just how pissed off he can make me.

I turn to greet the last and closest of my best friends, Echo Alza. She's the shortest out of everybody and the most intelligent. She has soft blonde hair that goes below her shoulders and has piercing amethyst eyes that seemingly peer through your soul…sometimes I feel as if she actually is. Although I've known Jason longer, I'm much more closely bonded to Echo. We know anything and everything about each other and spend a lot of our quality time predicting and betting on the other…no really it's actually a lot of fun. And let's not forget her intelligence. Echo just happens to be the smartest girl in her year, most likely the whole school. Her area of expertise lies in mechanical engineering whether it be fixing, installing, building or just plain inventing…the girl's a bloody genius. And on top of that she passes every grade like a breeze, I've always wondered how she manages.

I grin at her as we high-five each other. "Sup!"

She grins back. "Top of the morning to ya!"

We fall in step behind the others, chatting non-stop the entire way. School is only a number of blocks away so everyone agreed it would be easier to save petrol and walk together, plus living close to each other makes the walking more beneficial.

As we draw closer to the school, we notice a big commotion near the gates. Walking closer, I realize that most of the large crowd consists of squealing girls. I groan inwardly, 'Oh great…some lame hot stuff celebrity visiting or something?' I glance to the side to share a look with Echo; both of us wearing dreaded expressions.

Finally entering the gate, I am, for once, thankful for my height and was able to see over the heads of the pathetically enthusiastic fan girls. What I see, however, isn't quite what I expected.

A tall, handsome, dark haired stranger stood awkwardly amongst the chaos, looking lost and rather frightened of his new fan club. I notice that he is wearing our uniform and conclude that he must be a new student. 'Poor sod obviously wasn't warned about being fresh prey.' I can't help the snicker that escapes from my mouth.

"Hey Nikki…who's that?"

My head whips around and…. ah yes…was wondering when he'd appear. My boyfriend of six months, Darren Edwards, tall, black hair and silver eyes. He had transferred to this school last year and we got along rather well. That friendship soon blossomed into romance and we began dating half a year later. We've been going steady and happily although lately something seems off…oh well I'll figure it out later.

I turn and give him a smile. "Hey…not sure, I think he's new."

He stares curiously at the newcomer for a moment before shrugging and putting an arm around my shoulders. "Well whatever, come on the others are waiting for you."

I allow him to pull me away from the rather outrageous scene and towards the rest of our friends. Immediately once arriving there, Lacus makes a beeline straight for a guy in our group. Upon seeing her, his eyes light up and he greets her with an affectionate hug. I sigh at just how cliché these two were. The guy's name is Kira Yamato, brown spiky hair and deep, emotional purple eyes. And the sad fact that makes me want to just scream? Kira and Lacus are very obviously, fully blown out in love with each other which makes the entire situation just that much more overdramatic. Why? Because Kira is also dating the schools number one most selfish, manipulative, devious and (this I've always wondered) popular captain cheerleader Flay Allster. And I'm not exaggerating about her personality either. She is one of the most nastiest girls I've ever met and often wished I never had the unfortunate misfortune to cross paths with her. Just the sight of her sets my blood boiling to the danger of my mental thermometer exploding. But my very patient saint-like sister has been constantly restraining me from doing anything, she never likes it when people get hurt…bless your pure heart dear sister.

Anyway back to Kira and Lacus. If Flay sees them so much as hugging (like they're doing now) she has a habit of appearing out of nowhere and clinging onto Kira like she owns him. 'Don't think I don't see those glares you send my sister Allster!' Oh speak of the devil here she comes now.

I clench my fists tightly as I watch her wrap her arms around Kira's and send an icy glare in Lacus's direction. My heart becomes heavy as Lacus's shoulders visibly drop in defeat and she walks away from them with her head bowed and tears filling her eyes. I feel my jaw tighten in anger, the day has barely started and already that attention seeking wench made my sister cry!

First things first though, I need to cheer up poor Lacus. I run over to her and gently tug on her arm to turn her around. The sight that meets my gaze when she lifts her head breaks my heart in two. Her eyes are full of sadness and tears stream down her face. I instantly pull her into a sisterly hug and I can feel her shaking as she cries into my shoulder. My eyes are drawn over to where I see Flay sending me a smug smirk and Kira looking very uncomfortable, honestly the guy needs to grow a bloody spine. I refocus my attention back to my sister who has now, thankfully, calmed down a little. I push her away and hold her at arms length. I bend down slightly and my determined eyes meet her vulnerable, fragile ones.

"Listen to me Lacus, don't pay any attention to her alright? You're a hundred times the person she is, you need to stop letting her get to you like this."

Lacus shakes her head sadly. "It's not that she gets to me Nikki…it just hurts to see Kira with her."

I can't help the small groan that escapes me. "And that's exactly what I mean! You have to fight for him! And it shouldn't even matter because you've already won!"

My last phrase seems to have caught her attention as she stares at me curiously. "What do you mean I've already won?"

I mentally face palm at how oblivious my sister is. "Isn't it obvious Lacus…Kira loves you too."

I wonder if I've said too much, but a bright smile from her immediately crushes that thought.

"Really…Kira loves me?

I smile and nod at her. "He sure does, that's why you need to tell him once and for all how you feel. And then he'll finally dump that wench of a girlfriend of his and voila! Everybody's happy…well except for Allster."

I was pleased to hear Lacus giggle. Yup, mission accomplished, I have successfully managed to cheer up my sister. Now…where did Allster go?

"Hey Nikki! Lacus!"

Aw, there goes my chance at turning Allster into my very own personal piñata. Oh well maybe next time, so who called me? Ah! If it isn't my good mate Cagalli! And no surprise she has her own boyfriend Athrun right behind her. I swear they're attached at the hip. Cagalli is Lacus's best friend and twin sister of Kira Yamato. While Kira is rather shy and reserved, his sister is loud mouthed, out going and sometimes just downright scary. Her wild and hyper side is rather intimidating but apparently she's terrified of me when I go nuts so I suppose we can call it even. (Then again who _isn't _scared of me…wait should I be happy about this?)

Her boyfriend Athrun Zala, one of the few people I know that has weird coloured hair. It is a royal blue and ends just above his shoulders. That and his green eyes are part of the reason I have to deal with squealing imbeciles every school day…stupid men with their stupid good looks. Another little secret that only our group knows, Athrun is actually the brother of my best friend Echo. Haha! Bet you didn't see that one coming. Well I'll tell you something…neither did I! When Echo entrusted me with this rather…jaw-dropping confession, I was surprised to say in the least! For one thing, they don't look _anything _alike! Well they both build things and they're both incredibly smart…that's one similarity I guess. Anyway, the only people who know of these two are our close group of friends…and I mean CLOSE group, I haven't even told Darren about the mysterious siblings, this secret is only known to those who Echo really trusts…and for some reason she seems rather edgy about Darren, wonder what that's about.

While Cagalli and Lacus start babbling away at a million miles an hour (good heavens they're mouths are a friggin blur), I see Athrun make his way over to Echo. She looks up and grins openly at him. Have I mentioned she's been exceptionally happier since discovering she has a brother? Her eyes light up like a lighthouse whenever she sees him, but then again I can understand where she's coming from. I would feel a very big piece of my heart missing if I didn't have an awesome sister like Lacus in my life. She must be super excited now that she has a brother. I've always wondered what having a brother was like, but I'm close enough having Jason. I look around at all of my friends in contentment. I love my life, and I've had a rough road getting here. Things haven't always been smooth for Lacus and me…especially with our parents. Yeah… sit back because this will take some time to explain.

_(Flashback)_

_It had started the moment I was born. My birth had caused serious complications, which had put my mother's health in jeopardy. Miraculously she had pulled through, but she was never the same. Growing up as a child, I had always watched my mother struggle. After bringing Lacus into the world, she had sworn off having any more _

_children, her body too strained and exhausted from just us two girls. The doctor had informed her that it was a miracle she had children at all, and that giving birth twice in just over a year had internally damaged her and that she only had a short time to live. As a child, I never quite understood the depth of just how sick my mother was. All the memories I have of her are nothing but her gentle, smiling face, and the love and care she always showed me. _

_My father on the other hand was a different story. He had always blamed me for my mothers failing health, saying that if I hadn't been born then maybe she would've lived longer. He never showed this hostile side of his while I was an infant. But the day my mother died was the day my family changed forever._

_I was barely ten years old. I was awoken abruptly by my fathers' anguished cry. I jumped out of bed and bolted down the hallway to where my parents' room was. I burst inside but stopped instantly when I saw the scene before me. My father was holding my mother close to him, rocking her gently, tears pouring down his face. But my attention was on my mother, who was lying limp in his embrace. She was pale and unmoving. I remember stepping forward slightly, shaking in fear and confusion._

"_M…Mummy?"_

_My father spoke some of the kindest words I can recall him ever saying my entire life. "Come Nikki…come say goodbye to mummy."_

_I walked forward as he placed my mothers body back on the bed. My father lifted me and placed me beside her. My body shook as I realized what was happening. My mother was dead. I flung myself onto her chest and cried desperately into her shirt._

"_NO! Mummy! Come back! Mummy!"_

_My father watched in silence, unable to comfort his oldest daughter. I suppose he was too lost in his own grief to really care. But his kindness towards me didn't last, since it seemed he suddenly realized who it was he thought was responsible for his wife's death. I suddenly felt myself being roughly lifted off my mother's chest and thrown onto the floor. I looked up from the floor to see my fathers' enraged face._

"_This is YOUR FAULT! You're the reason she's DEAD! It was your existence that made her sick! Damn you for being born!"_

_Each insult he spat out felt like being constantly stabbed through the heart. My own father thought I was the reason my mother suffered. Whatever respect I held for him had died that night, and the need to rely on someone crumbled along with it. From that moment on I was determined to live my own way. I would live the way I wanted and protect those I loved. As I entered my teens I turned rebellious. It was a daily routine for me to have a shouting match with my father, with Lacus desperately trying to keep the peace. But that peace had vanished the night my mother died. _

_What had changed me completely was the sickening attention he would give to my sister. I never hated Lacus for it; rather I leant on her for support. Regrettably I have snapped at her at times, my anger still on overdrive from fighting with my father. But it was no excuse, it wasn't fair of me to take my frustrations out on her, she never did anything besides support and love me like a sister should. _

_Both Lacus and I knew that I was the one who was closer to our mother, so her death had hit me the most. Don't get me wrong, Lacus was devastated too, any child would be after losing a parent. But I shared a bond with her that no one else had. Part of the reason could be how I am always reminded of how I am a split image of her…I had inherited everything from her long brown hair and blue eyes to her habits and personality. I'm always confronted by her old friends, with constant lines of; "Little Nikki? My goodness you look just like your mother!" or how about; "Good Heavens, it's like a younger version of Annabelle!" and lets not forget my favourite; "Annabelle is that you? …Oh Nikki! Wow sorry about that. For a minute there I thought your mother had returned from the dead." Gee thanks guys, always nice to be reminded of my mothers' unfortunate demise…insensitive old geezers._

_Getting back on track here. For many years we at least had our father…well it was great for Lacus at least. Since I didn't really get along with him anyway, I spent the majority of my time away from home and hanging with Jason and Echo. My two best friends were constantly there for me, especially after my mothers passing. They were sad to see her go; they always did go on about how much they loved her company (and her cooking…I swear they just came over for the food). Wow I really love getting carried away…well… it was only a couple of years ago that death struck our family once again. Lacus and I were at school when we received a call from the hospital that our father had suffered a rather severe heart attack and had been rushed into the emergency centre. We didn't waste anytime. I drove like a maniac to the hospital (ok I didn't have my license yet, but nobody knew, plus I always was a excellent driver) and before the car had even stopped, Lacus had jumped out and bolted to the entrance. I quickly parked and ran after her (my car has central locking so of course I locked it…I'm not an idiot). We were asked to wait patiently while they did their best to save our fathers life. The wait was torture, especially for Lacus. While I was close to our mother, Lacus shared that same connection with our father. He had always treated her like a princess and showed her daily how much he loved her. The thought caused my stomach to church. As much as I detested him for the way he treated me, there was always a part of me that wanted what Lacus had. The little girl that was hidden away deep inside of me still loved and longed for her father._

_My thoughts were interrupted when a doctor approached us. I gave Lacus a gentle nudge and we stood, staring expectantly and hoping for some good news. But any hope I felt dwindled when I saw the look on the doctors' face. Lacus' must've noticed too, she shook her head in desperate denial, stumbled backwards and collapsed back onto the chair she originally sat in._

_Being the brave one for the both of us, I stepped forward. "How is he?"_

_The doctor sighed. "He's alive…but only just. I suggest you take your time to say your goodbyes…he only has a short time left."_

_I nodded grimly. "Thank you."_

_He nodded in response before walking away, but not before informing us of the whereabouts of our fathers' room. I helped Lacus to her feet and wrapped an arm around her shoulder before leading her down the hall. Once we found the right door, I gently steered her inside. The instant Lacus laid eyes on him, she broke down into tears. She made her way over and sat in the chair next to his bed. She leant forward and gently took his hand. The dying man mumbled something neither of us could quite hear._

_Lacus squeezed his hand. "Daddy?"_

_My fathers' eyes squinted open. "L..La..cus."_

_My heart reached out to him. I normally felt so angry towards him for his resentment and verbal abuse. But right now, all I saw was a fragile man on the last stretch of his life. This was my chance to show him how I really felt._

_Lacus's voice brought me back to reality. "How…how're you feeling Daddy? Will you be ok?"_

_A tired, sad smile made it's way across my fathers face. "We…both know…the answer to…that question sweetie."_

_Tears once again sparkled in her eyes. "Please…Daddy…not you too. We've already lost Mum as well."_

_I watched as he squeezed her hand. "You won't…be alone…Nikki will…take care of…you."_

_He let go of Lacus' hand and silently reached forward to beckon me to him. I silently obeyed and walked over to him, grasping his hand once I reached his side. For the first time in my life, my father smiled at me with pride in his eyes._

"_My precious…Nikki. My…special girl, please…forgive me."_

_I shook my head. "No Father. You don't need to apologize. We were all grieving for Mum. I was too angry and lost to realize that you were hurting as well."_

_His eyes were suddenly filled with sadness and guilt. "It didn't give…me the right…to accuse you…the way I did. You were only…a child. I…should've known…better." He turned his regretful gaze towards the ceiling. "Your mother…must be so…disappointed in me."_

_I squeezed his hand gently, making him turn to look back at me. "No Father…she loves you. And we know she's waiting for you. And…you know I love you too. No matter how hard you were on me…you're still my father."_

_His smile widened and his eyes twinkled. "And I love you…my daughter. Please…watch over…and protect…your sister. I…place her…in your…care now."_

_I nodded. "I will Father, I promise I will take care of her."_

"_Daddy…"_

_He turned his gaze to Lacus, who had been quiet during the exchange. My father let go of my hand to once again clasp hers._

"_Lacus…do not be sad. I…am not dying…but simply…living on. And I…will be…waiting…for you…when it's your…turn. You…will see…me again."_

_Lacus nodded tearfully. "I know…and I look forward to that day…I love you Daddy."_

_He smiled. "I…love you too…I love…both of you…very much."_

_I stood next to my sister, with tears of my own threatening to fall, as our beloved father finally closed his eyes and his last breathe left him, a peaceful smile still on his face._

_I held Lacus close to me as she broke down. I was reminded how she comforted me after our mother died, now it was my turn to comfort her._

_(End Flashback)_

It was a year later when I met Darren. He filled the gap my father had left and I am now living the best life I can. But there will always be a void where my parents once were, a black hole in myself that can never be replaced. My long trip down memory lane ends just in time for not a moment later… yup! There goes the bell. Dang it, I was going to see if I could rescue that poor newcomer out the front, ah well, guess he'll just have to suffer. I stroll casually through the school towards my homeroom, taking shortcuts to avoid crowds. I crinkle my nose when I find a couple making out against a locker. Not in any mood to deal with any mushy crap, I storm up to them and slam my hand next to them.

They jump apart and stare at me in fear. I snarl. "GET TO CLASS!"

They disappear before I can even blink. I smirk to myself. Serves them right, displaying such atrocious behaviour. Sheesh. Okay so I'm being a little bit hypocritical having a boyfriend, but Darren and I don't carelessly flaunt our affection in public like that, its just…urgh…immature! In a fresh foul mood (yeah I get riled easily) I slam open the classroom door and stomp over to my desk, slumping into my chair and letting out a large 'hmph!' Ok so there was no real logic reason for my temper, but like I said, the smallest thing can tick me off, it's just how I am.

My peaceful time doesn't last long however, as my classmates all pile in and my ears are filled to the brink with ruckus of chatter and squeals. I cringe and throw my arms over my head. 'Is it so much to ask for some bloody peace and quiet?'

"Alright everyone quiet down!"

I sigh in relief at the sound of the teachers' voice. I straighten in my seat and give him my full attention like the good student that I was. 'Wow that sounded real geeky.'

"Before we get started, I would like to introduce a new student. Please come in!"

I watch with the class as the door opens and a tall figure steps into the room. I almost laugh from the irony of it all. It was the newcomer from before! I also notice I'm the only girl in the room who felt like laughing. Every other female was either drooling or on the verge of passing out. I roll my eyes. Ok sure the guy isn't bad looking; in fact looking closer I'd have to say he is rather gorgeous. But please, all this doggy style mouth foaming is not an attractive way of grabbing his attention…not that I'd want to, I mean I have a boyfriend. I lean my cheek on my hand in a bored manner as the teacher continues.

"Young man, would you like to introduce yourself?"

Said young man nods. He steps forward and bows politely. "Pleased to meet you all, my name is Kai Rodgericks."

The girls squeal loudly making me flinch. Sheesh the frequency these girls could hit was remarkable! I let out an irritated huff and turn to stare out the window. My mind begins to wonder again before I heard my name.

"Miss Clyne!"

I raise my eyebrow at the teacher. "Yes Sir?"

"Please raise your hand."

"But I…"

"Just do it!"

I sigh before lifting my right hand in the air.

"You will be seated next to her for the year Mr. Rodgericks."

(Kai's POV)

"Pleased to meet you all, my name is Kai Rodgericks."

Immediately after my self-introduction, all the girls in the room squeal. I sigh quietly to myself. Is it so much for _one _girl to not faint whenever she looked at me? It made it very hard for a serious commitment.

"Mr Rodgericks you'll be sitting next to Miss Clyne. Miss Clyne if you would kindly show yourself…Miss Clyne."

Everyone in the room turns to stare at a lone figure sitting in the corner of the back row, gazing blankly out the window. My eyes follow theirs and when they land on her, I am unable to break away my gaze. There in the back of the classroom, sat the most stunning girl I'd ever seen. I watch as she distractedly blows on her bangs, the soft strands floating upward then landing gently back onto her face. She seems rather bored, which astounds and amuses me all at once.

"Miss Clyne!"

Most students would jump at the tone, heck even I was startled slightly. But this 'Clyne' girl calmly turns her head and raises an eyebrow at the teacher.

"Yes Sir?"

Heaven help me! She has the voice of a goddess!

"Please raise your hand."

"But I…"

"Just do it!"

She sighs in defeat and raises her right hand. Wait…why did she have to put her hand up?"

"You will be seated next to her for the year Mr Rodgericks."

Wow, am I a lucky guy or what? But her reaction doesn't seem to quite match mine.

(Nikki's POV)

I drop my hand and gawk at the teacher in shock. "What?"

He sends me a stern look. "Don't argue Miss Clyne. I figured I owe it to Mr. Rodgericks to place him next to someone who won't drool on him."

I snort. "What about the boys then? The only reason they would drool on him is if they're gay."

"Well, funnily enough, the only other free space is next to our only gay classmate."

I whip my head to the side to find the rather disturbing sight of a guy my age that was gazing at Kai and practically had love hearts bulging out of his eyes. I shivered. "Um…alright then guess I can't put him through that."

I move my belongings so that I'm right next to the window; wow the view is even better now! I feel someone sit next to me and I turn my head to see the new guy staring rather intently at me with deep forest green eyes. I raise my eyebrow at him. "Can I help you?"

The corner of his mouth lifts into an amused smirk. "Am I glad I sat next to you. And not any of the hormonal classmates you have."

I roll my eyes. "Those girls have no self control. It's despicable. Oh where are my manners?" I offer him my hand. "Clyne's the name, Nikki Clyne."

He takes my hand in greeting. "Pleasure to meet you Nikki, well you know my name already, it's Kai Rodgericks."

I nod politely. This guy wasn't so bad. Looks like he has a nice personality to match that face of his. I guess it wouldn't hurt to make friends with him…aha! I know what I'll do!

"Say uh…Kai?"

He turns to me.

I can't help but grin. "Since you're new, how about I show you around during break? Wouldn't want you getting lost."

He smiles at me and I'm rather taken aback. My gosh! This guy is scrumptious! Whoa! Down girl! You have a boyfriend!

"I'd like that a lot, got a group of friends?"

I grin. "But of course, after class our first order of business is for you to meet my gang."

He chuckles. "Gang? You make yourselves sound like you're from the street."

I laugh along with him. "On the contrary, my life is actually quite the opposite."

He raises an eyebrow. "Opposite?"

Oh dear…now I have to explain that I'm friggin rich…just wonderful.

"Yeah my…uh…family is rather…wealthy." Well put Clyne, stutter and all, very smooth.

I'm surprised to find his face is rather calm and neutral. "Wow, that's cool. My family was never too big with money and stuff."

I stare in bewilderment. What the hell is with this guy? Most people are throwing themselves at me to try and bribe money from me, or worshiping the fact myself and Lacus are wealthy. It's one of the many stupid reasons we were labelled as 'popular'. But this guy doesn't give a crap, he treated it like casual conversation…wow he really is perfect isn't he? I envy the girl he ends up marrying one day…wow did I really just think that?

His hand waving in front of my face breaks me out of my trance. "Hey! Nikki! You alive in there?"

I laugh and rub my neck. "Aha yeah sorry, mind wondered off for a minute."

(Kai's POV)

This girl is amazing! I've never met anyone quite like her. I was rather pleased to find out I will be sitting next to her all year. But my brain decided to stop working the moment she looked at me. Two beautiful crystal blue eyes curiously stared into mine and I was met first and foremost with a blank expression and a raised eyebrow. Wow she is an interesting character isn't she? And very hard to read at that, but after proper introductions, it was rather easy to talk to her. And she's even volunteered to show me around the school and meet her friends! Not bad for a first day at Archangel High.

She also mentions that she has a wealthy family. I laugh inwardly at her shocked expression when I don't really react. Guess she's had too many people treat her like royalty, and guessing from her personality so far, I'd wager a guess she doesn't enjoy the attention too much.

After homeroom, she pulls me outside and leads me to, what I'm guessing is my school tour. She then stops suddenly and turns to me. I blankly stare back.

She puts her hand out. "Got your timetable?"

I reach into my pocket and pull out a folded piece of paper before giving it to her. She unfolds it, studies it for a moment before handing it back to me with a smirk on her face. 'Does she ever just…smile?'

"Well that makes things a whole heap easier."

I blink. "What does?"

"Your timetable is exactly the same as mine, so we'll be spending quite a bit of time together."

I want to jump for joy. This is great! Maybe while spending more time with her I can build up the nerve to ask her on a date or something. Yeah that sounds like a plan, but how would I…?

"Oh hey Darren!"

I snap out of my thoughts at the sound of her voice and I find myself astonished at her expression. She has an excited smile on her face and is waving enthusiastically to someone. What lucky man can bring out such a vibrant glow? I turn around to see a guy shorter than me walking towards us. Completely ignoring me he strides past me and walks over to Nikki. I watch in shock as he kisses her cheek and puts an arm around her waist. No way…was this guy…?

Nikki answers my unfinished question. "Kai, this is my boyfriend Darren Edwards. Darren, this is Kai Rodgericks, he's the new guy that was getting harassed out the front."

All hopes and dreams are instantly crushed. She has a boyfriend. I had found the perfect girl, only to arrive too late. But I wasn't about to become bitter about it; I was to be the gentleman and be happy for her.

I politely offer my hand to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Darren."

_I guess she isn't the one after all._

(Nikki's POV)

"Kai, this is my boyfriend Darren Edwards. Darren, this is Kai Rodgericks, he's the new guy that was getting harassed out the front."

Now the different reactions are interesting and confusing. Kai's confused me. When I'd introduced Darren, I actually saw his face fall in disappointment. Was he…did he like me? That's impossible; I only just met the guy. Oh dear, we'll see how that goes then. I turn to Darren and my eyebrows shoot up into my hair. He looks…suspicious, almost dangerous. Is he threatened that Kai might try steal me away from him? Isn't that jumping to conclusions and also a tad bit possessive? He knows if anyone tried anything on me I'm am perfectly able to take care of myself. 'Sigh' Last thing I want is to turn this into an unnecessary love triangle. What love triangle? I'm not in love with Kai! I barely even know him! Ok…breathe Nikki before you hurt yourself.

I feel relief when Darren finally reaches out and takes Kai's offered hand. Well if Kai was hoping for anything, he was at least handling this as a proper man.

"Pleasure's all mine Kai. Had quite an adventure earlier ey? Sounds like you're quite the ladies man."

Kai laughs modestly. "Actually it was rather frightening. All I want is to find and marry a nice girl who loves me for me. Settle down and raise my own family."

Once again I find myself amazed. He actually wants to get married and have kids? He must be the only guy I know that's openly admitted that with no shame. Even Darren never really talks about it. Speaking of which. I glance next to me to look at him.

He looks bewildered for a moment before he surprises me by bursting out laughing. What? I don't recall Kai saying anything funny.

Darren walks up to Kai and whacks him in shoulder. "Marriage? Family? Hah! Dude! Do you live in the eighteenth century? That's so old fashioned! What kind of world do you think we're living in?"

I am stunned to say the least. He doesn't believe in marriage…or in having children? Not to mention he was laughing about the whole matter like it was some ridiculous fairytale. Before I can stop myself, I find myself in my boyfriends face.

"What do you mean old fashioned? Lots of people still get married! Don't criticise him for something he strongly believes in!"

Darren's silver eyes dart to me in shock and anger. "What you're defending him now?"

I stare back at him and stand my ground. I'm not scared of him. "No I'm not! I'm defending what _I _believe in!"

He laughs at me. "_You? _Marriage? Hah! Not while you're dating me babe!"

I feel my eyebrow twitch at the nickname. "Don't call me that! You know I hate those stupid pet names!"

His face is now an inch from mine as we glare at each other. I harden my expression further and my voice comes out in an icy tone. "You know how I get when I'm pissed Darren. Don't want you ending up like those stupid thugs."

For a moment I see a flicker of fear in his eyes but it disappears just as quickly and he turns around and storms off. I allow my face to soften and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh brother."

"Nikki?"

I turn to see Kai standing in the same spot looking very guilty. Uh oh.

"I didn't cause that fight with you and Darren just now did I?

I shake my head. "No you didn't. We've been having problems for a while. Sure we're happy some of the time. But it's been very easy to pick a fight with him lately. I'm not sure when it happened, but he's changed."

And it's true. When I met Darren he was a different person. In fact he wasn't too much different from Kai. Easy to talk to, make me laugh and they're both very good-looking guys. But recently he had begun acting differently. His hugs and touches used to be soft and gentle, but now they're rough and demanding, almost as if he's desperate for something.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up to find myself staring into soft, compassionate green eyes. I find myself unable to look away. What's happening to me? Why do I feel so entranced by someone I just met? I turn away just in time to hide the large blush that covered my cheeks. Oh hell…since when did I _blush? _

"Kai?"

Oh thank the heavens for whoever saved me from this embarrassment. I turn happily to see…Jason?

My jaw drops as a large grin appears on Kai's face as he leaps forward to share a brotherly hug with my best friend. Just what the bloody hell is going on here? Do they know each other? Urgh my head is spinning, too much is happening in one day.

Jason turns his annoyingly large grin towards me. "Nikki! Why didn't you tell me you knew Kai?"

I glare at him. "I just met him you idiot! And what about you huh? How in the hell do _you _know him?"

Jason's smile grew. "Ah we go way back! Don't we mate?"

I turn to stare questioningly at Kai, who nods in affirmation. "We knew each other a few years ago. We were classmates for only a single year before I had to move away."

I scratch my head. "Then where in the heck was I?"

Jason strokes his chin thoughtfully. "Might've been the year you lot went away for a holiday."

I mentally smack myself. Of course…Echo had dragged Lacus and myself to her vacation home for a year to help us escape our family dramas for a little while. We hadn't planned on staying that long…but I guess us girls had heaps more fun then anticipated…heh.

I shrug. "Well that definitely explains why we've never met before. How about you come and meet the rest of the gang now?"

Well I'll spare you the long, dragging bore of him meeting the others, otherwise we'll be here forever. So how's about I just summarize the rest of my day? Well I'm making sure Kai is in time for all his classes, showing him around the school and helping him become comfortable. It's remarkable how popular he is now, and only after one day too. But sure enough he has his own official fan club and I have found it upon myself to personally assign myself as his bodyguard against his stalkers. He does seem thankful for my help actually. Poor guy is too kind-hearted to say no to these girls. After a long drawling day of playing tour guide and protector against the mob, I finally make my way towards the gate, Kai walking beside me.

"You look exhausted"

I shrug. "I usually am, I can't stand school."

He raises an eyebrow. "Then why do you go?"

"Because I like my friends."

He laughs. "Nice answer. I'd have to agree with you on that one. So which way's your house?"

I point lazily down the path. "That way."

He jabs his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm the other way."

We stand and stare at each other. I feel slightly unsure about what to say, but once again Kai comes to my rescue as he offers his hand to me just like before.

"It was great meeting you today. I hope we can be good friends. See you here tomorrow?"

I immediately grab his hand and, for once, give him a genuine smile. "Most definitely. See you round Kai."

I smile at him again before turning around and walking down the path, completely oblivious to the dreamy expression on the man that had now become a part of my life.

I trudge along the sidewalk, briefly wondering where my sister and the others are. Well I did leave a little early. Knowing she would be safe with them, I finally enter my front gates. I walk through them, across my large lawn and up to the front door. I unlock the door, closing it behind me. I make a beeline straight for the staircase and stumble up them and finally, into my bedroom. Despite it only being mid afternoon, the day has left me completely wiped out, physically and mentally. I don't know why, but I'm unable to erase a certain dark haired, green-eyed man out of my head. I shake my head. This isn't fair to Darren. It's not loyal at all to think of someone when I'm already dating someone else. But even so, as I strip off my clothes and collapse onto my bed, my thoughts and dreams are plagued by the face of none other than the handsome, gentle face of Kai Rodgericks. The one person I was so desperately trying not to fall for.

_Oh friggin hell…what is that man doing to me?_

End of Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Confrontations and Realization

I should've known that from the moment I met Kai, things would go spiralling downhill between Darren and myself. Over the next week he was angrier than I had ever seen him. I suppose I can't blame him really, I am spending quite a bit of time with Kai lately, but that's only for academic reasons really. He's in all my classes and I help him with whatever assignments he needs help with. So technically, the main reason I see him so much is because of homework. And yet I still have my boyfriend accusing me daily of having an affair behind his back. Tsk…bit touchy isn't he? Darren has always been somewhat of the jealous type, but up until now no guy has ever dared an attempt to hit on me for fear that Darren might kick his arse. Um…hello? Nikki Clyne speaking? I could probably do more damage to them than he ever could. 'Sigh' when did my life become such a huge drama? … Oh wait…never mind.

I sigh again as I find myself once again walking to school to face my daily demons. Darren's jealousy wasn't my only issue. I still have that Allster cow to take care of. You'd think by now Lacus would've come clean with Kira. Well guess again, she's been doing nothing but avoiding him and his arm attachment all week. Come on Lacus I know you're a lot stronger than that! I'm going to kill Allster. Stupid, conniving, stuck up b-

"Morning Nikki"

I almost trip over myself from the sudden voice. I look around with wide eyes to find I'm already at the school. 'Wait…what?' I turn back to see Kai staring amusedly at me.

"Did I startle you?"

I playfully glare at him. "Well excuse me for being deep in thought."

He just grins. "You're excused…say, where are all the others you usually come with?"

"Lacus isn't feeling well, Jason and Jenny came earlier for some unknown reason and Echo's coming with Athrun."

He stares. "Oh…well I hope Lacus gets better. I thought she wasn't talking to Kira."

I sigh. "She isn't, I let him in this morning. I have no idea what's happening between them right now. Maybe she'll finally tell him everything, honestly the two of them drive me insane!"

Kai chuckles. "Whatever happened to the overprotective older sibling?"

I grin. "Oh I've been there, done that. When I first met him I was constantly in his face. I just loved to watch the poor bugger squirm. And even then he was still with Allster. Never can understand what he sees in her. Anyway, after getting to know him I started to like him more. Kira's a good guy, he just needs to break out of that little cramped shell of his and take the bull by the horns."

Kai nods. "I definitely agree with you there. His sister seems to be rather straight forward though."

I shiver. "Don't get me started on Cagalli. She's a great friend really, but she's dangerous sometimes. Should see the chaos that happens whenever she and Jenny get together, bloody hell it's terrifying."

He laughs again. "You sound like some poor victim they've tortured or something."

I grimace. "Sometimes I feel like I am."

I continue my fun chat with him as we walk to out homeroom, unaware of silver eyes glaring daggers at us from behind a wall. Yeah you can all guess who that is. But strangely, Darren is the last thing on my mind. I've barely thought of him at all since Kai came into the picture…uh…that's not a good thing is it? I'm still technically dating Darren…but I haven't done anything with Kai, it's not like I'm cheating or anything. But I do owe him an explanation. Yeah I'll do that at break, may as well clear the air.

I sit down in my homeroom with Kai next to me. Next minute everyone flows in and take their seat. I don't miss several flirtatious winks and blow kisses sent Kai's way. Sheesh they just don't quit do they? Kai waves awkwardly at them while giving me a desperate, pleading look. I just grin back at him. Nope, can't help you there buddy.

The teacher begins talking and I immediately zone out. This is a habit of mine but thankfully it doesn't affect my grades. I have made a routine of studying ahead of class so I'm always prepared the next day for any questions thrown my way. I push myself to the point where I've fully memorised everything, so I can happily daydream through school. The only time I don't phase out is if my name is called or poor Kai needs my help with his work. Maybe I should help him grow into my own habit, it would spare him so much worry and stress.

"Miss Clyne!"

Yeah here we go. "Yes sir?"

"Please answer the question on the board."

I look over the board and easily answer the question. See? School is a breeze for me.

"Very good Miss Clyne, now go back to your daydreaming."

Heh, yeah it is common knowledge that I don't really pay much attention in class. But I always answer correctly so the teacher doesn't really care anymore whether or not I'll listen. He never usually asks me unless the rest of the class is helplessly clueless…aaaah aren't I just the lovely reliable source? I've saved everyone from detentions quite a number of times too.

"Riinngg!"

What the? Over already? Wow I wasn't daydreaming for that long was I? Oh Kai's waiting for me I better get going.

Aw man! I'm so bored! When does break start already? Here I am sitting in my next class but I'm barely ever aware of which subject I'm even in, all I want is some lunch, I'm friggin starving!

"Miss Clyne!"

Oh hell here we go again. "Yes Ma'am?"

"Please tell the rest of the class the full definition of marketing."

Marketing? I don't remember having a subject like that. Oh well better answer the question.

"Marketing is defined by the AMA as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. It can also be defined as "the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships, in order to capture value from customers in return".

"Very good Miss Clyne, thank you"

I shrug and turn back. I didn't study marketing, but my family ran a business for several years so I know the basics of it. Not really all that big of a deal. Wait do I feel someone staring at me? I turn my head to see Kai gawking at me.

I raise my eyebrow. "What?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

Hmm…wonder what that was? Meh I'll ask him later. Oh hell there goes my stomach. So hungry! Oh Kai must've heard that, wipe that smirk of your face, fool!

"Shut up, I'm hungry."

His grin widens. "So I gathered. Didn't you eat breakfast?"

I shake my head. "No I wasn't hungry at the time."

'_Riinngg!' _

Finally! Chicken Caesar Sandwich here I come! I find myself, for a change, racing out the door before anyone else, leaving a trail of smoke behind me. I sprint down the corridor towards the canteen and screech to a halt in front of the window. The serving lady looks rather amused.

"Well, well…hungry are we?"

I nod eagerly and point to the sandwiches behind her. She grabs a couple of packets (bless her!) and gives them to me. I hand her the money, thank her and quickly run off again before the crowd arrives. I run down several halls before skidding around a final corner. My friends all stare at me in bemusement. Yeah, yeah, so I ran like a maniac just for a freaking sandwich, so sue me! I ignore them and sit down on my bench. I tear open the packet and bite down into the chicken filled bread. Mmmm! So good! Several bites and swallows later and I have both sandwiches devoured. Aah now I feel satisfied. Someone sits next to me and I turn to see none other than Kai gazing at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Feel better?"

I grin. "Yup!"

Oh yeah, I need to find my boyfriend. I look at Kai. "You haven't seen Darren anywhere have you? I really need to talk to him."

Kai opens his mouth to answer when someone interrupts. "Looking for me?"

I look up to stare into the steely eyes of Darren. Still feeling bitter are we? I sigh and get to my feet. "Let's talk in private."

I lead him to a corner out of sight from my friends. The moment we are alone I feel myself being slammed against the wall. Well, all right there's no need to be violent!

I glare at him, unfazed by the shove. "What the hell is your problem?"

He glares back at me. "I want you to stay away from Rodgericks! He's trying to steal you away from me!"

I push his arms away. "No he's not, you're just jealous because I'm spending so much time with him!"

He growls. Ooh now I'm really scared. "And what makes him so special that you spend more time with him than your own friggin boyfriend!"

Yep, he's definitely jealous. "We're friends Darren! And I've been assigned to be his tutor, It's important I'm around him! I'm helping him study! And if you had the good grace to pull that thick head of yours out of your arse and got to know him better than maybe this wouldn't be such a issue!" Wow I'm on a roll aren't I?

Oh my, he seems rather insulted. Serves him right. Nobody decides whom I get to be friends with.

He suddenly looks rather guilty. Hang on, what just happened? Wasn't he angry?

He nods in defeat. "You're right Nikki, I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions.

I gawk at him. "What?" Wait this wasn't like him at all! Since when did he apologize for things?

He grins. "You heard me. I'll do my best to get to know him better. And I'll even make it up to you."

This ought to be interesting. I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow. "Really? How're you going to do that?"

His grin turns into a smirk. Uh oh, what's he planning?

"My parents are going to be away this weekend. How about you tell your friends, yes including Kai, that I'm hosting a party at my house on Friday. Sleeping over is an option for those who would like to stay the night."

Wow I'm rather impressed. This could actually be a lot of fun! Been a while since I've been to a sleepover. Let alone one with guys there as well. It's definitely going to be one hell of a weekend.

I smirk at him. "Alright you have a deal. I'll go back to the others now and tell them. We'll all be there around…six?

He nods. "Six it is. I'll see you then."

He turns and leaves without so much as a hug or kiss goodbye. That's strange; he always at least pecks my cheek. Something isn't right. First he's incredibly jealous of Kai, then out of nowhere he shows no affection. Something is going on here, and I'm going to find out what it is.

I stand staring at my reflection. I'm wearing dark jeans with a simple, but nice, V-neck purple top. I have my hair up in my usual high ponytail, although I have some loose strands falling over my shoulders and down to my waist. Eh, it'll have to do; I have a party to go to.

It is now Friday night and I am preparing myself for Darren's sleepover. I feel oddly excited. Is it because Darren has decided to finally grow up? Or is it the thought of having a fun time with Kai? During my talk with Darren earlier I had failed to mention one vital fact. I'm scared that I'm falling out of love with Darren, and falling deeper and deeper in love with Kai. But for some reason I don't have the heart to break things off with Darren. He can be unbearable at times but he's still a nice guy. He doesn't deserve to be hurt in such a way.

I sigh loudly to myself. Guess I should get going. First I need to grab Lacus, she always takes forever to get ready. I march to her door and knock on it.

"Come in!"

I let myself in to see Lacus sitting in front of her own mirror, placing light make up on her face.

"Oh hi Nikki!"

"Lacus…it's just a sleepover. Not a grand ball or anything. We'll probably do crazy stuff that'll make your makeup smudge."

She turns to me with a look of horror. "What kind of sleepover is this?"

I sigh. Oh helpless sister of mine. "Just wipe it off and come as you are."

She pouts. "But…Kira's going to be there."

Is she serious? "Lacus, he already loves you the way you are. You don't need to cover yourself with that fake identity crap."

She giggles. "Well when you put it that way, I guess it makes sense. I'll just go wash this off then."

She disappears into the bathroom for a few minutes, and then emerges again with a clean, makeup free face.

I can't help but smile. "Aw, now there's my little sister." I reach forward and playfully pat her head.

Her giggles continue and she blushes. Isn't she just the cutest little sister? I put an arm around her drag her out the door. "Let's go party then!"

"Wait Nikki…aren't we staying over? I had my bag all packed."

Well there goes my good mood. My shoulders slump and I stuff my hands in my pockets as we walk down the street. "I'd rather not…it's at Darren's house and things have been a tad bit weird between us lately."

She nods in understanding. "Why did you go out with him by the way?"

Her question catches me off guard. "Where in the hell did that question come from?"

"Well you two seem to always have problems. And lately you've been spending a lot of time with Kai. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're falling for Kai and quickly losing interest in Darren."

Bloody hell…since when has Lacus been able to read me so well? Hah well she is my sister, need to give her some credit. It's either that or she's just been observing me really closely.

"Well I guess I can't hide anything from you. Yes I have these growing feelings for Kai…but I can't break up with Darren, not yet anyway."

Lacus looks rather…disappointed? "Nikki, you've been pushing me to confess my feelings to Kira. Why don't you take your own advice and just tell Kai how you feel? The chance that the feeling isn't mutual is highly unlikely, I've seen how he looks at you."

I smile sadly at her. "You make it sound so easy. But it's dangerous right now Lacus, I'm dating someone else. If Darren found out how I feel, there'll be the devil to pay."

Oh no she's shaking her head. That could mean just about anything.

"But I thought you weren't scared of him."

"I'm not…but I'm scared he might do something to Kai."

My last statement causes a tense silence. I had voiced my true fears to her. Kai had become a dear friend to me in the short time that I knew him, and as each day goes by I'm constantly wishing that we could be so much more. But as I said to Lacus, Darren was the only person standing in the way. My sister was right, why _am _I dating him? I was struggling to find good reason to be with him anymore. Urgh, I really need to stop worrying so much. Oh goody, we're finally here. And from the sound of the music, the party must already be in full swing.

We walk up to the door and I reach up and press the doorbell. Seconds later the door opens and we are greeted by Darren's grinning face.

"Ladies! Welcome! Please come in and make yourselves at home!"

Yikes…he sounded waaay to enthusiastic for my liking. But regardless, I give him a friendly smile and make my way to the front room where the other guests were waiting. The moment I enter, my eyes are immediately drawn to Kai, and wow I feel like swooning! This is my first time seeing him out of school uniform, and let me tell you he looks hot! He's wearing a dark green collar shirt and black jeans. That shirt of his was bringing out all sorts of dreamy shades from those eyes of his. Ok…I better go sit down before I pass out. I walk around the couch and flop onto the long piece of furniture. A shadow passes over me and I look up into the twinkling eyes of Jason, oh hell what does he want?

"Nikki! Looking dazzling as always!"

Why is it that even when he's complimenting me I feel the urge to punch his lights out? Must be that mischievous tone of his.

"What the hell do you want moron?"

He places a dramatic hand over his heart. "You wound me! Here I was just trying to comment on how lovely you look!"

What a friggin drama queen he is. "Well why don't you save those ever so charming comments for someone like…gee I don't know…your _girlfriend?"_

He moves his hand to his forehead and looks up to the sky. What in the hell is he doing? Practising for a school play?

"Alas my beloved hasn't arrived yet! So I beg of you to keep this lonely man company while I await for her arrival."

I can't help myself anymore; I collapse back into the couch and burst out with laughter. Jason looks rather pleased with himself. "Yes! I made her laugh! Five points to Jason!"

I roll my eyes and clip the back of his head with my hand. "You really are pathetic you know that?"

He rubs the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Aw you still love me don't ya sis?"

I wave my hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Now go wait for your precious damsel somewhere else that's far, far away."

He playfully salutes and marches away. What a dolt. Another shadow comes into my view…oh great now who is it…oh, Mr. Rodgericks himself…right on cue. Perfect.

Even so I can't help the smile that spreads across my face. Wow I have it real bad don't I?

"Hey Kai."

He softly smiles back at me. "Hey. When did you get here?"

"Just a minute ago, how long have you been here?"

He shrugs. "About half an hour ago. Been nothing but casual mingling so far. Was that Jason I saw with you just now?"

I roll my eyes. I do that a lot don't I? "Yes he was just being his usual, annoying, idiotic self."

He laughs…ah I love that sound from him. "You guys really are like brother and sister huh?"

I chuckle. "You have no idea."

Our conversation is cut short by slow music playing from the stereo. Couples around us come together and within seconds I'm seeing lovebirds dancing closely. I am pleased to see my sister and Kira among them. Kai then steps in front of me and offers his hand with a polite bow.

"May I have the honour of this dance milady?"

Who could refuse such a charming offer? I place my hand in his and he gently pulls me into the middle of the room. Once we find a vacant dancing spot, he wraps his free arm around my waist, readjusts our hands and sways me in beat to the music. Wow I never knew he could dance, but slow dancing is pretty easy. He suddenly lifts my arm and twirls me in a graceful circle, grabs me waist again and smoothly dips me to floor. His eyes bore into mine and our gazes lock. For the first time I am able to search those wondrous green orbs. Swirls of dark green and emerald stare back at me, and for a moment I am completely lost. In this moment, my feelings for him are reassured and every doubt that ever crossed my mind is completely vanquished. I am completely and utterly in love with the perfect Kai Rodgericks. He seems to have read my thoughts, for I can see very clearly in his eyes that he loves me too. I lift my hand that was resting on his shoulder, and use it to gently run my hand down his jaw line. I've wanted to do that for ages. Kai has a very sexy jaw.

Our magical moment is ruined when I notice the music has stopped. Kai lifts me up and places me back on my feet. A few people are staring at us in awe, but as long as none of them were Darren, I couldn't care less. But as much as I was happy with the feelings I had admitted to myself, I still wasn't ready to tell Kai outwardly how I felt. So without another glance at him, I back away and hurry from the room. I sneak into a dark corridor and hide myself behind the wall. Oh goodness I need to calm this pounding heart.

"I see you were enjoying yourself out there."

Oh crap. Darren. So I guess he did see us dancing. Oh well time to face the music then. I turn to face my boyfriend, most likely soon to be my ex-boyfriend. Inside, my heart is cheering, since it longs to be with Kai. My mind however is frozen with fear. Darren knows how I feel, and I am scared to death he will hurt the man I've come to love.

"I was hoping you wouldn't find out this way." Wow, great start Nikki.

His face twists into a snarl. "Shut the hell up! You told me you were just friends! And now I see you doing this romantic dance with him in my own bloody house! You lied to my face!"

And now, cue the shouting match. "I didn't lie! I hadn't figured out how I felt at that point! I thought I did just think of him as a friend!"

"You DID Nikki! Past tense. Bet you just really love him now, don't you?"

Ok he was asking for it. He wants the truth? I'll give him the damn truth. My voice lowers to a dangerous whisper. "Alright fine…yes I do love him. I've fallen helplessly in love with him…are you happy now?"

Silence. And then…SLAP! Ouch…right across my jaw too. Great now he's turned into an abuser?

"Damn you…I loved you. How could you do this to me?" Hellooo almighty guilt trip.

My shoulders slump. "Listen, if it's any consolation, we never did anything. All we did was hang out. I never cheated on you Darren…but I can't help who I fall in love with…I'm so sorry."

He shook his head. "No, I'm not letting it end like this. You're my girlfriend, there's no way I'm letting him take you away."

What the hell? I'm not some bloody trophy! "Are you serious? You don't own me Darren Edwards! I'm not some prize you can fight over with someone!"

He punches his fist into the wall next to me. "You listen to me, _Clyne." _Ooh reversing to last names are we? "If you don't stay with me, I'll make sure that precious _love _of yours suffers! Now you don't want anything to happen to your beloved do you?"

My whole body freezes. Did he just black mail me? I could physically threaten him to stay away. But no matter what I did, he would find someway…or someone to harm Kai. And I just couldn't let that happen.

I bow my head in defeat. "Fine, I'll stay with you. Just as long as you promise not to hurt him."

He grins. "Good girl, you have my word. Now off you go back to the party."

I nod sadly and turn to walk back into the room.

"Oh and Nikki?"

I stop and look at him.

"It would be in your best interest to stay away from Kai tonight as well. I can't afford any risks."

I sigh sadly and nod. I walk back into the guest room where music was playing and people were dancing and chatting. I'm no longer in a party mood so I look around to find Lacus. I find her still wrapped in the arms of Kira, with her head leaning on his chest as they slowly dance to the music. I don't have the heart to interrupt them, so I place my faith and trust in Kira to bring her home later.

I make my way past the couches and through the corridor. I quickly slip out the door before anyone, especially Kai, can see me. As I wonder down the street, I can feel my heart breaking. All I want is to be with Kai. And now my stupid _boyfriend _is selfishly pulling me away just so he can keep me. Damn bastard! A single tear rolls down my cheek, and I'm too depressed and tired to wipe it away.

"Nikki! Wait up! Nikki!"

Oh no! This can't be happening! Darren warns me to stay away from Kai, and now the one person I'm trying to avoid is running to catch up to me! What the hell do I do? I stop in my tracks. There really was only one thing I could. I wipe my tear away and turn around to face the quickly approaching Kai. A piece from my heart cracks and shatters with each step that he takes. When he's directly in front of me, I look away instantly, unable to meet his gaze. Kai…please forgive me for what I'm about to do.

"Nikki…what's wrong? You just suddenly left the party. Did something happen?"

This time I force myself to look straight into his eyes. You can do this Nikki. To protect him from getting hurt, you need to be strong.

"I'm sorry Kai…I can't see you anymore."

I see the light from his eyes slowly die away. I can feel my insides slowly dying inside from how much I was hurting him.

"W…what are you talking about?"

"I thought I had feelings for you…but I was just stringing you along to make Darren angry. I'm sorry I led you on like that."

I watch as his eyes finally go dark. Oh Kai…I'm so sorry.

"But…I…wanted to tell you…"

"Tell me what?"

Please don't say it…

"I'm in love with you, Nikki."

Crap.

I look away again, trying desperately to hold back my tears. "I'm sorry…I have to go."

I turn and run away from him, ignoring his desperate calls as I finally let out a soft sob. 'I'm sorry Kai…I love you too.'

(Kai's POV)

My heart shatters as I watch her figure become smaller in distance. I don't understand…why is she doing this? When I looked into her eyes while we were dancing, I thought for sure she loved me too. But she has to love me! It was so clear on her face! It could be her guilt talking. Maybe she doesn't want to hurt Darren and she's trying to keep the peace. She'd be the type to do a selfless act like that.

I turn around to head back to the party, but I suddenly don't feel up to going back there. Nikki's boyfriend lives there, if I went back I would spend the remainder of the night glaring at him. He has no idea just how lucky his was to have someone as special as Nikki.

So I just continue down the path back to my house, with a broken heart and my soul as dark as the night around me.

(Nikki POV)

I throw myself on my bed and bury my face into my pillow. Sobs wrack my body and my tears seem never ending as they pour down my cheeks. 'What have I done? Am I not strong enough to protect Kai? Why did I so willingly surrender to Darren's threat?' My own thoughts aren't helping me feel any better. Where's Lacus? It's times like these that I really need my sister.

Oh…there goes my phone. I reach over and pick it up. Lacus! I quickly answer.

"L…Lacus?"

"Nikki! Thank heavens! Where are you? I've been so worried!"

"In my room."

"You're at home? Good, don't move! I'll be there soon!"

I smile as I hear her hung up. Such a wonderful, selfless person she is. I place my phone on the bedside table next to me, and collapse back onto the bed. All I can do now is lie in the darkness of my room, and wait for my sister to come to me.

(Lacus' POV)

I hang up my phone and instantly turn to Kira. "We have to go! Something's really wrong with Nikki! She sounded really upset."

Kira nods. "Let's get going then, this party is getting boring anyway."

I grab his hand and pull him through the crowd and out the door. We race to his car and climb in and speed away towards my house.

I am not certain about what was happening. When I spoke to Nikki a few minutes ago, she didn't just sound upset. Her voice sounded heartbroken and shattered. I have never in my life heard her sound so…empty. My sister has always been the stronger one out of the two of us. To have something happen for her to sound that defeated must've been awfully dreadful.

Kira sharply steers the car into the driveway and screeches to a halt. I jump out of the car and run through the gate. I burst through the door and race up the stairs straight for  
Nikki's bedroom. I open her door and my heart shatters when I see my sister. She is curled up in a ball with her fists clenching tightly onto her quilt. She's staring blankly at the wall with fresh tearstain marks on her face.

"Oh… Nikki."

(Nikki POV)

"Oh…Nikki"

I turn my head to see my sisters' compassionate blue eyes. The moment our gazes lock I feel myself lose control.

"Lacus… I've done something terrible."

Fresh tears gather in my eyes. Aw man how pathetic can I get? I suddenly feel two arms wrap themselves around me. I recognise my sisters' gentle touch and scent and bury myself into her embrace. As I cry, she strokes my head soothingly. Her comfort reminds me of my mother so I feel myself calming down rather quickly.

I slowly pull away from the hug and lift my head up to look at Lacus.

She places a hand on my head. "Nikki what happened?"

I bow my head. "Kai…"

"What?"

"I've really hurt him…I'm such a coward!"

She lifts my chin. "Talk to me."

And everything comes out. I tell her about how I danced with Kai and my realization of my love for him. How Darren had caught us and threatened me. And finally, I tell her of my last conversation with Kai and the crestfallen expression on his face.

Lacus sighs. "I can understand your intentions Nikki, but was it really the best way?

I shake my head confusedly. "I don't know, at the time all I could think about was the thought of Kai getting hurt. It would destroy me if anything happened to him."

She smiles comfortingly at me. "You're stronger than this sis, the Nikki I know would fight anyone that ever stood in the way of something she desperately wanted. And Darren isn't any different, he's just incredibly selfish."

"This is much more complicated, Lacus."

She looks confused. "Why do you say that?"

I stare at the ground. "Because…I'm properly in love for the first time in my life and I will do whatever it takes to protect the man that I love…even if it means succumbing to blackmail."

Lacus looks at me in disbelief. "But what about you? You're completely miserable Nikki!"

"I don't care…"

"Do you care about Kai?"

My eyes widen and I look up at her. "Of course I do! What kind of a stupid question is that?"

"What you're doing isn't just hurting you, it's hurting him as well. I thought you said you wanted to protect him!"

I feel stunned. She's right. Kai is most likely, right now, utterly devastated because he thinks the girl he loves was playing with him. But at the same time, my need to keep him safe was overtaking my ability to think logically. My heart was screaming to protect him from Darren.

I sadly shake my head. "It's better than seeing him beaten to a pulp and lying on a hospital bed." I'm not kidding, Darren can go to very dangerous lengths to achieve his goals, even if it meant hurting someone along the way.

Lacus gives up and throws her hands in the air. "Do what you like. But I'd advise you to think more carefully on how this could affect both you and Kai in the long run." Her face then softens. "I just want you to be happy Nikki."

With that last statement, she rises to her feet and leaves the room, leaving me to sit alone in the darkness of my bedroom with a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and emotions.

End of Chapter


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was very easy to avoid Kai the weekend following the party. I spent most of those days either in my room or with my sister. I wasn't up to seeing anyone else. Echo came around a few times and she took my mind of my depressing thoughts for a while. But it's now once again Monday and I'm dreading going back to school. Darren will most likely try to parade me around (like hell he will!) and I doubt I'll be able to even glance at Kai without my heart breaking all over again. Oh hell, he sits next to me in classes as well.

I walk slowly towards school, behind my chattering friends. Now and then I see Lacus shoot worrying glances at me over her shoulder. Echo had offered to walk behind with me but I refused. I need a few minutes to brace myself before we reach school. Thankfully, she understood. More quickly than I would've liked, we've walked into the school gates. I feel myself tense; this is going to be a really long day.

I see all my friends suddenly staring at something behind me. I give them all a curious look. My sister looks extremely nervous.

"What?"

"Nikki."

My shoulders immediately stiffen. Kai. Why did he have to spot me now? I don't want to have to hurt him all over again. I turn around to face him, keeping my expression as neutral as possible.

"Good morning Kai."

He seems to notice the forced formality in my voice as his eyes once again darken in sadness. He steps towards me but stops when I step back from him.

"Nikki please, why you're doing this…this isn't like you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Did I mention how much I hate lying?

He dashes forward and grips my shoulders. "Stop it! I'm begging you! Tell me the truth!"

My gaze lowers to the ground. If I look into his desperate eyes one more time, I fear the truth will come tumbling out. Please Kai…just stop. This is for your own good.

"Get away from my girlfriend Rodgericks."

Oh great… perfect timing. If there was anyone I wanted to avoid the most today, it was that stupid, selfish, dictating, life controller over there. I lift my head to glare at the smirking man standing behind Kai. I'm startled when Kai suddenly whips around to face him and grabs his collar.

"What have you done to her?"

Darren plays innocent and shrugs. "I don't know what you're talking about. She's clearly with me because she wants to be. Guess she was just playing with you after all."

I feel my body shaking with rage. He was really laying it on thick wasn't he? I watch Kai, as he seems to be just as angry as I am.

"Damn you…I know something is going on here. And I'm not going to stop until I find out what it is!" His voice is filled with so much determination, I find myself staring in awe at him.

Darren just continues smirking like the egotistical moron that he is. "Well good luck with that, let me know if you find anything."

Before Kai has a chance to retort, the school bell rings out. Without another word or glance at anyone, I turn around and run to my homeroom class. Once I am inside, I hurry over to my desk and collapse in my seat. I may as well enjoy this time to myself before I have to endure the incredibly awkward time I'm going to have once Kai comes in. I sigh sadly to myself. How did I get myself into this mess? I should've just been strong from the beginning. Darren would be out of my life and I would be happily together with Kai.

I'm startled when someone sits in the chair next to me. I glance to the side, and sure enough, there's Kai, staring at me with emotion filled eyes. I avoid his gaze and turn back to the window. Yep… this is definitely going to be awkward. But it seems he's determined not to give up.

"Nikki, I'm begging you to listen to me. You don't have to say anything. I know something isn't right. That night I found you leaving the party; you seemed sad and depressed even before you pushed me away. So I figured something bad must've happened." I have to give credit to him for figuring this much out already by mere common sense. "And I know Edwards is involved in this somehow, he was acting very proud and smug this morning…I know he's done something to you Nikki, or at least said something to keep the two of us apart."

Ok, that's kind of scary, he pretty much has it all worked out. Only part he doesn't know is the confrontation that concurred between Darren and myself. Oh he's still talking I should pay attention.

"I'm going to give you one final decision Nikki. If you really, truly love me, then meet me tomorrow night at the park between here and your house at ten o clock sharp. But if you don't show up, then I'll take it as a sign that you really do just want to stay with Darren."

I mentally laugh. Like hell I want to stay with Darren, but this also leaves me in a bit of a dilemma. What if Darren sees us? I wouldn't be surprised if he's hired cronies to spy on me twenty-four, seven. I really do want to go meet him and tell him how much I really do love him. But ten o' clock was too risky, we needed to meet later. I feel a small plan building inside my head.

As I predicted, there was silence between us all through homeroom class, and the remainder of school. The moment the final bell goes off, I power walk out of the school and head straight home. I send a quick text message to Kira, asking him to make sure my sister arrives home safely. Are they together yet? Haven't seen much of Allster lately.

The moment I'm in my room, I pull out my phone again. I scroll through my contacts list before stopping and pressing on a certain name. Then slowly, I jab the message into my phone.

'Ten o' clock is too risky. Can we make it midnight? I'll explain everything tomorrow night."

That seems discreet enough. I go over the short text one more time before pressing 'send.' Once I see that it's sent, I place my phone on my bedside table then lie back on my bed, waiting in anticipation for his reply. A few minutes go by and I feel myself getting drowsy. Just as my eyes begin drooping, my phone sounds out loudly from next to me. My eyes snap wide open and I reach over to snatch it off the table. I look at the screen to happily see the name of my desired sender. I eagerly open and read the following message.

'Midnight it is then. I look forward to having our talk. I will see you tomorrow night. Until then…I love you.'

Well, you've probably guessed by now whom this text is from. Against Darren's warnings, I will be sneaking out tomorrow night to meet my beloved Kai in secret. My only hope is that we aren't discovered by anybody, especially someone who might blow our cover and inform Darren. But hey I need to stay optimistic, this is my chance to finally tell Kai everything, and then maybe…hopefully…we can be together.

Even though I had erased the tension between Kai and myself, I still needed to avoid him at school to convince Darren we're still on the rocks. And you know what? It worked. He was none the wiser to our little act and would continue throwing smirks in Kai's direction. I couldn't help but roll my eyes when I saw this, that idiot was so immature. Kai was the mature one and would just ignore him. When Darren wasn't looking, however, I would sneak glances at Kai and find him staring straight back at me, which caused me to blush furiously and look away. Our little game continued the rest of the day, and we were thankfully secretive enough for Darren not to notice anything. The git was too busy walking around with a cabinet shoved up his arse.

When break finally arrives, I don't feel up to seeing or talking to anyone. So I go to the other only place where I seek comfort. The Performing Arts Centre; starting from a very young age, I always took a strong interest in music and my mother had taken it upon herself to personally teach me in a few areas. I grew strong in the ways of piano and violin but my main interest was to build up my voice. I've been singing since before I could even walk and have been practising non-stop ever since. But very few people know about my hidden talents, I haven't even told Kai for some unknown reason. Why would I keep anything from him? I have fallen in love with him haven't I? I will most definitely have lots to tell him when I get the chance, but it's a little difficult right now since I'm not allowed to be seen anywhere near him.

I arrive to my desired room and push open two large double doors to reveal hundreds of seats facing a spacious, wooden stage. I walk down and head straight for the stairs located at the side. I hastily climb them and head towards the back. A few minutes of scrummaging and dragging and I have my self-made stereo (which strictly has songs that I myself composed) and a microphone.

I click the 'play' button on the remote, and my soul is set free as my mouth opens and a soft melody tune escapes my mouth.

(Kai's POV)

I wasn't surprised when Nikki bolted out of class the moment it ended. But when I didn't see her with her friends, or anywhere in the school grounds, I found myself starting to worry. So now I'm wandering the halls and peeking into random classrooms to see if she's hidden herself to-"

_Oooh oooh oh…oh oh oh oh ooooooh!_

Wait…who's singing?

_Do dooo do do! Oh I just can't help falling in love with you._

I find myself hypnotised. Whoever this was had the most beautiful singing voice I had ever heard. I follow the sound to end up outside the Performing Arts Centre.

Wise men say…only fools rush in, But I can't help falling in love with you

I open the door and carefully peek inside, not wanting to disturb this joyous sound. What I wasn't expecting however was to see none other than Nikki herself. There she is, standing near the front of the stage, with her eyes closed and her voice projecting the lyrics like there's no tomorrow. My jaw drops. She never told me she could sing.

Shall I stay

_Would it be a sin?_

_But I can't help falling in love with you_

Her singing stops and a deeper male voice, coming from the stereo behind her, takes over.

Like a river flows to the sea, so it goes Some things are meant to be

And before I know it, Nikki takes the lead again, her voice slightly overlapping the other.

Some things are meant to be

_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

I close my eyes contently as I lean against the wall and listen to the rest of her song.

Wise men say, only fool rush in

_But I, I can't, I can't help…falling in love with you_

_(Male voice) Like a river flows to the sea, so it goes_

_Some things are meant to be_

_(Nikki) Some things are meant to be!_

_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

_For I can't help falling in love…falling in love with you_

_Like a river flows, that's the way it goes_

_I just can't help falling in love with you (Falling in love with you_

_Like a river flows, that's the way it goes, _

_I just can't help falling in love with you (Falling in love with you)_

_Like a river flows, that's the way it goes,_

_I just can't help falling in love with you (Falling in love with you)_

_That's the way it goes I just can't but…_

_Falling in love with you._

Her singing and the music both simultaneously stop in time with the other. I am amazed at her talent. She has the potential to become a well-known composer if she chose to pursue her singing. But if she has chosen to hide it from most people, it would seem that fame is probably the last thing on her mind. My shoulder suddenly slips off the wall and I stumble forward. I see her look in my direction and I quickly back out of the room and dash down the corridor. Crap…did she see me?

(Nikki's POV)

A few seconds after I finish singing, I hear a noise near the back of the room. My eyes dart in time to see someone's silhouette make a hasty exit and I hear footsteps running down the hall. Was someone spying on me? I'll need to find who the culprit is; my music is very secret and precious to me. I don't just tell anyone about my musical heritage.

As quickly as possible, I place all the equipment back where I found it before running out of the auditorium. I look left and right but don't see or hear anything out of the ordinary. Damn…whoever that was had made a very swift getaway. I'll have to worry about the ratbag later then. Right now I have to worry about surviving the rest of the day until my night meeting with Kai. Which means avoiding both him and the stupid boy trying to control my life.

_(Later that night)_

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Kai had apparently made it his personal mission to avoid me at all costs. He was acting weird as hell. For example, at one point I accidentally ran into him turning a corner on my way to class. His eyes had looked everywhere but at my face as he stammered out an apology before hurriedly walking into the room. What in the freak was going on with him? And was that a blush I saw? He definitely owed me an explanation.

And Darren…well he was too occupied with flirting with every other female that moved or breathed, so I didn't have any trouble whatsoever staying out of his way. He was such a filthy hypocrite, threatening me to stay away from another guy when he's openly flirting with other girls that obviously _aren't _his girlfriend. The man makes me sick. I hope that one-day karma will bite him back for all that he's worth.

And now? It's currently eleven thirty at night; I'm sitting on the living room couch and waiting for the right moment to make my way to the park down the road. Lacus had long since gone to bed, but not before wishing me luck. Yeah so what if I told my sister? There's hardly anyone else that I trust more than her, I tell her _everything_. Tonight is no exception.

I glance at the clock again to see that it's now eleven forty five, I have fifteen minutes. I should really get going. I shakily stand to my feet and make my way to the front door. I take a deep breathe before opening the door and stepping outside. The soft, cool wind blows gently through my hair as I walk, my thoughts clouded with how this conversation might turn out. Just my turning up there was confirmation to both Kai and myself that I most definitely loved him. And I know that at some point I will be telling him how I feel about him. This night may turn out to be rather mushy, but strangely I don't really mind. I'm in love with a wonderful man and the rest of the world can go screw themselves for all I care. Love does strange things to one self.

Another five or so minutes of walking and I find myself on the soft grass of a quiet park. I gaze contently at my surroundings. What was usually filled with loud children was now a tranquil area where I can listen to nothing but the gentle breeze and insects chirping in the night. Another sound suddenly fills my ears, the crunching of grass underneath someone's footsteps as they slowly approach me. I whip around to face the newcomer, and am relieved to find myself once again under the gentle gaze of the one person I was waiting for. Well, he did actually startle me a little.

My body relaxes and I smile at him. "Hey."

He returns my smile. "Hi…you came."

"I feel I owe you an explanation."

He nods patiently at me. I take this as a sign to continue.

"You remember our dance at the party?" He nods again. "Well…Darren saw us. And he confronted me straight afterwards."

Kai shakes his head. "I had a feeling he had something to do with this."

I nod in confirmation. "He was determined to keep me as his girlfriend…and to drive the two of us apart. So he…he threatened me."

His eyes widen. "He _threatened _you? What did he say?"

I hug myself self-consciously as the memory of that night returns to my mind. "He said that if I didn't stay with him, that he would do something to horrible to you. And I know Darren well enough to know that if I disobeyed him, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt you, or even worse… kill you."

Tears threaten to break out as everything that happened since Friday night finally kicked in. My watery eyes remained glued to the ground until I feel two arms envelop me into a loving hug.

(Kai POV)

I listen in shock as Nikki reveals everything to me with tears sparkling in her eyes. This was why she had ignored my phone calls over the weekend and had completely ignored me all of yesterday. She was only trying to protect me. She was terrified that Darren would harm me in a fatal way if he ever saw as together. I want nothing more than to find that Edwards dweep right now and smash the hell out of him. He had threatened and blackmailed Nikki just to stop her from breaking up with him. And he was willing to hurt other people to keep her. How selfish can you get? But as much as I'm tempted to give him a piece of my mind, Nikki has just spilled her heart to me and she seems genuinely upset. I don't hesitate to comfort her as I step forward and tightly wrap my arms around her shaking figure.

I rub her back soothingly as I whisper in her ear. "What you did was very brave Nikki. You gave up your own happiness to keep me from danger, and I can't express just how grateful I am for that. Your selflessness has just reminded me all the more why I've fallen in love with you."

Her shaking thankfully stops after a little while. She pulls out of my embrace and lifts her head to look at me. Her blue eyes are shimmering slightly from her crying and I reach forward to wipe away a lone tear that was rolling down the side of her face. My hand stays where it is as I gently hold her cheek, stroking it delicately with my thumb. My love for her swells when she gently smiles at me.

"I love you, Kai."

(Nikki POV)

His words go straight to my heart. He has every reason to be angry at the way that I treated him, but instead he expresses how grateful he is and how much he loves me. If he weren't holding me, I'd probably burst into tears again. But he needs to know how I feel; I don't want this whole night to be completely one-sided. So I push myself away from him slightly and look at him, ready to tell him everything I have felt from day one. But before I even have the chance to open my mouth, his hand is resting on my cheek and he wipes away a tear I didn't even realize was there. His thumb then continues to gently stroke the same spot my tear once was.

I know this is my chance and I smile at him. "I love you, Kai."

He seems surprised for a moment, but his face relaxes and I can see the joy radiating from his face. "I love you too, Nikki."

I was planning on confessing more than that, but just those few simple words seem appropriate for now. We can talk more about our full feelings later.

But right now, it seems the time for talking is over. We're standing with barely an inch between us, our gazes are locked and his hand is still resting on my cheek. An invisible force seems to pull us together as our faces draw nearer to each other. I surrender to the sensation and my eyes flutter close. A content sigh escapes me as our lips connect for the first time. The kiss is soft at first, but that doesn't last long when I reach up to wrap my arms around his neck and it turns into a full blown, deep lip lock. He responds in kind and holds me tightly around my waist. His lips taste and feel as kissable as they've always looked and I can now happily say I have died and gone to heaven.

We continue our kiss for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. But one does need to breathe after a while so, quite reluctantly we slowly pull apart. I open my eyes to meet his. I can't help giving him a bright smile and I lunge forward to hug him. He catches me and spins me around, our laughter echoing through the park.

(Kai's POV)

This is what I've dreamt of from the very second that I met her. To hold and kiss her like I have done tonight. To hear her laughter and know I am the reason for her happiness. And now we are lying on the grass, her head is resting on my chest, our hands are entwined and sitting on my chest as we gaze at the stars above us.

My eyes turn back to her when she pulls her hand away and sits up to face me. My eyebrow rises when she gives me a scrutinizing stare. Uh oh…what did I do?

"You were acting very strange today, Rodgericks."

Yikes, use of surname. Act cool, Kai. It can't be anything serious. "Was I?"

She lowers her head so that its centimetres away from mine. This close proximity is usually rather pleasing but her leering gaze is scaring the hell out of me.

"Why were you acting so shifty and embarrassed more than usual around me? Are you hiding something from me?"

Her interrogation causes me to think. What would I have to hide from her? Oh…now I remember…I spied on her while she was singing. I did promise to myself that I would come clean once everything was clear between us.

So I look at her with a sheepish expression. "Well uh…" Here goes…

(Nikki POV)

My suspiciousness hits top climax when he looks at me with a guilty grin. My eyes narrow and I laugh to myself when I see him gulp. I just love watching men squirm.

"I was watching you sing."

I freeze and my mouth falls open. So someone was spying on me! I'm happy to know it was someone that I trust. But I don't really mind all that much, my voice is loud enough for the whole friggin school to hear. I shouldn't be so fussy about someone overhearing if I'm going to pelt out my lungs like I was. Poor Kai, he must've thought I was going to be furious. His scared expression suggested he'd done something a hundred times worse.

I shake my head and chuckle at him. "Oh Kai, is that all? I wouldn't be surprised if everyone heard that and came running. I wasn't exactly being very discreet about it."

He smiles up at me from his place on the grass. "Well you have a beautiful voice."

I blush from his praise, my brain unable to give him a verbal response. I decide to give him my thanks by leaning down and pressing my lips against his. My mind instantly turns to thoughtless mush as our mouths move perfectly against each other. This kissing business is extremely addictive, especially with someone like Kai who is one hell of a damn good kisser. If it weren't so late at night I would stay like this for several more hours.

But guessing it was nearing close to one in the morning, I know I need my sleep so I can survive through school. No I don't mean classes, I sleep through them no matter how much shuteye I get. I just don't want to walk around like the walking undead, wouldn't that be quite the comical sight? It would also mean a shorter temper on my part, so I don't think anyone would want to risk pushing any of my buttons. But I'd wager anything that my lovely best friend Jason would try anyway out of curiosity. Idiot.

I slowly pull away from the dreamy kiss I'm sharing with…can I call him my new official boyfriend? He gives me the most adorable pout. Aw that would make any girl melt.

I hear myself giggle at him. Now I'm friggin _giggling? _This man has an astonishing effect on me. I playfully tap him on the nose. "It's getting late, and we have school tomorrow…well, actually it's today."

He sighs in defeat. "I guess you're right."

I move myself off him to allow him to stand up. He then reaches down and pulls me to my feet as well. Our hands automatically seek each other, our fingers intertwining as we finally leave the park, feeling happier than we had in days. Along the way, Kai persistently insists that he drop me off at my door. I am objecting to his offers, in fear that we might be seen. We finally reach an agreement that we part ways across the road from my house so that he can watch to make sure I get inside safely. ME? What about him? He's the one Darren threatened to hurt! I voice this concern to Kai and he just waves it off, saying that he can take care of himself. It seems there's no arguing with him at this point.

We reach the sidewalk over the road from my house, and I am reluctant to say goodbye to him. How much longer will we have to sneak around like this? When will I be able to spend time with him again without having to look over my shoulder for Darren?

I walk forward and press myself into his chest. "I don't want this night to end."

He gently hugs me closer to him. "We'll find another opportunity. Just you wait."

I lean back to gaze desperately at him. "But when? Darren has spies everywhere."

He smiles reassuringly at me. "Don't worry about him, Nikki. We'll handle that when the time comes. Right now I just want to spend as much time with you as possible."

I'm so relieved with his words. He's taking this whole situation very well. He doesn't seem to care that his life is in danger. It scares me how much I love him. I reach up and hug him tightly. "I love you." I don't think I'll ever grow tired of saying that.

I hear the smile in his voice as he hugs me back and whispers. "I love you too."

I cling onto him for another minute before releasing him. We lean in to share one final kiss, our mouths lingering for a moment before separating. I walk away from him, our hands touching until they could longer reach each other. When I reach my gate, I turn to give him one last longing gaze. The tree he is standing under is dark so I am only able to see his shadowy figure. I turn away and walk across my lawn, determined not to look behind me again. I pause at the door, my hand lingering on the doorknob. No…don't, he must be long gone by now. Just open the damn door and go to bed. I begrudgingly obey my conscience and enter my house, rapidly shutting the door behind me. Phew…that was a close one.

Resisting the tempting urge to run back outside, I force myself towards the stairs that led towards my bedroom. Ah…bed, now that sounds like a nice idea. As much as I want to spend one more minute in Kai's arms, I am dead tired and just need some sleep. This whole fiasco has left me exhausted. After an eternity of climbing stairs, I finally manage to drag my feet into my room. Without bothering to even remove my clothes, I collapse onto my bed and fall asleep before my head has a chance to hit the pillow.

"Nikki! For goodness sake Nikki, WAKE UP!"

My eyes shoot open and I bolt upright in my bed. "What? Who goes there?"

"Finally! Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to get you up?"

I turn to see a rather…uh…irritated Lacus. Oh crap… What time is it? "Um…are we late?"

I cringe as she shrieks at me. "Yes we're late! Half an hour late! Now get your sorry behind out of bed and get dressed!"

"You know you could've left without me! School's only a few blocks away!" She ignores my yells and storms out of my room. Well I can gratefully say this isn't the first time this has happened, but I don't see why she can't make her own way to school. But then again, this could be her way of making sure that I _get _to school. If I had my way I wouldn't even attend. It's thanks to my sister that I arrive there before the bell…most of the time.

I look down to see I still have my clothes on from last night, which immediately brings back fresh memories of my night with Kai. It's going to be really hard to pretend to avoid him today. Maybe we can organise something in homeroom today, we do have to sit next to each other. These thoughts race through my mind as I strip off the clothes I fell asleep in, and throw on my school uniform. I quickly brush and straighten out my long hair (I've had years of practise doing this), grab my bag and zoom downstairs. Lacus is already way ahead of me and is walking down the street. Guess she's still a bit miffed at me. I follow behind with a safe distance between us so I don't aggravate her further. I know that when Lacus gets like this, it's best to give her some space; otherwise she'll just blow up at me again and it's back to square one. My sister isn't as patient and innocent as most people might think. I've seen all sides of her, both good and bad. Trust me…you don't want to see her worst…I barely escaped with mental scars that will haunt me forever.

As expected, the grounds are empty when we arrive. Without as much as a 'have a nice day,' Lacus walks off to her class. Surely she can't be _that _angry can she? I shrug; I'll have to work it out with her later. These little fuses with her never last anyway. Having my timetable memorized, my feet automatically took me to where my class was. This is going to be fun.

My stomach hurts from laughter so much I can barely breathe! I clutch my hands to it in a desperate attempt to keep it under control. Oh…guess you'd like to know what's so funny huh? Well my first classes are nothing but a very vague blur right now; all I remember is a non-too-pleased teacher and a very amused Kai. Yes you cheeky sod, you're the reason I slept in so late. After that rather uneventful class, I made sure to leave class before he did. We whispered an agreement during the lecture to meet again on Friday night, this time at eleven. As much as we wanted to see each other more often, we didn't want to be too obvious, so we figured once every few days was soon enough without either of us becoming too desperate. Yes we miss each other all right? We can't help it if we're hopelessly head over heels for each other.

Moving on to the cause of my laughing condition. It happened during break. Her Royal Wenchness Allster had finally decided to make another appearance. But instead of just clinging to Kira, and simply glaring at my sister, she did something ten times worse. Here is what occurred

I approached our usual area, and was confused to see that my sister was nowhere in sight. That's weird because she's always there way before I am. Even Kira was there and he was chatting away to his best mate Athrun like there was nothing out of the ordinary. I stood up and made my way over to him.

"Oi! Kira!"

I saw him jump slightly and whirl around to face me. When he saw who it was, his eyes visibly widened in fear. Gee wiz.

I folded my arms. "Where's my sister?"

He relaxed at my words. "Oh…she's grabbing something from her locker. She said she needed it for her next class."

Oh is that where she is? I grinned at him. "Cheers" And I walked away. Both his and Athrun's expressions were priceless. Some men are just a bunch of spineless wimps. My mind went from entertained to white-hot anger the moment I turned the next corner. There was Allster with her two followers, Dumb and Dumber. Oh I haven't introduced them have I? Meer Campbell and Gwen Wilkinson, two girls that were often seen with Allster and always followed her lead in everything. Why? Their goal is, apparently, to sleep with all the best looking guys in the school before graduation. Which is a bit sad since they're all a year younger than Kai and myself and won't be graduating until _next _year. And who are their targets? Well as you've probably guessed, Allster has her sights set on Kira. And it appears my sister is the only person standing in her way. As for the other two…I'm not entirely sure, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that Campbell girl lingering around Athrun. Not a wise idea girly, you don't want an angry Cagalli. Why don't you be a smart person and choose life instead? I have no clue what poor sod is Wilkinson's prey, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her.

These three Mean Girls had my poor sister surrounded and I could hear the swearing and nasty threats they were giving her. I knew not to intervene until things spiralled out of control. We were after all on school grounds. So I waited patiently to see whether or not Allster would decide to be a wise-ass.

My anger boiled when her face sneered into a snarl. "I'm warning you Clyne! Stay away from Kira, he's mine!"

I swelled with pride as Lacus stood her ground. "I'm sorry Miss Allster, I cannot stay away from the person I'm in love with."

My internal volcano finally erupted when Allster grabbed Lacus' collar and shoved her up against the locker. No one…and I mean NO ONE harasses my sister! Against my raging emotions, I calmly stride up to the four girls. Campbell and Wilkinson had seen me coming and were now trying to pull their leader away. But she didn't seem to listen and continued to abuse my trembling sister.

Ok this stops right now! I could feel my mouth twisting into a snarl. "Allster…what do you think you're doing?"

Now this next part is the reason why I couldn't, and am still failing miserably to stop laughing so much. I watched with satisfaction as Allster visibly froze. She released her hold on Lacus's shirt like it had caught on fire. She turns to me, her and her friends looking very much like frightened deer that had just been caught by headlights. But while my sub-conscience was hiding a smug smirk, my eyes were glaring at Allster hard enough to burn her to a crisp.

"Well? Answer me! Tell me why I walk over here to find you three bullying my sister!"

Her two lackeys were very, clearly terrified as they hid behind Allster for shelter from my wrath. Being their leader, Allster appeared to think she needed to be the brave one. She did her best to glare back at me and stood up straight to face me. Oh please, like you could ever scare me, shrimp. I'm taller than you and your shivering guinea pigs combined. But I had to give her credit for trying.

"You c-c-can't order me around Clyne! This g-g-girl is in my w-w-way! Now I s-s-suggest you move out of m-my way before s-someone gets hurt!"

Ok the threat and insult in that one sentence pissed me off. But all that stuttering was frigging hilarious, made me wonder if she rehearsed it. My restraint finally lost grip of my temper and it was my turn to grab her shirt and bash her against the locker. Only difference was, Lacus remained on the floor the entire time. I had Allster off her feet way above my own head.

"Don't get smart with me Allster! I'm warning you now! If I see you anywhere near Lacus again I'll make what I'm doing to you now look like heaven compared to the hell I'll put you through! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

I think I might've scared away all coherent thought from her brain. I'm pretty sure she wet herself as well. She let out a little whimper and finally nodded her head. I let her go and she fell hard onto the floor. She shakily stood up with the help of her friends and before I knew it they had scampered away from me and disappeared around a corner. And that was when I lost it. Laughter erupted from my throat and I've been unable to stop ever since. I am sitting on my usual bench, bent over with tears pouring down my face. Lacus has long since given up on calming me down and was sitting next to me with her face buried in her hand. She had to be the one to explain to our friends what had happened, I am unable to speak or even think properly with the current fit that I'm in right now. And I'm not the only person in our group that found it hilarious. Echo, Cagalli and Jason were all howling the moment they heard the story, but were a lot quicker to calm down than I was. Kira was more focused on making sure my sister was all right, and I even heard him promise her that he planned on breaking up with Allster for good. Ah music to my ears. Athrun and Jenny just shook their heads at the obscurity of it all; they always did act more maturely with situations like these. Lacus even made an effort to walk over to Kai to talk to him as well, and I was happy to see him let out a chuckle.

My laughing eventually dies down and I wipe away the remaining tears. Oh boy that felt good. My sister turns to speak to me. "You ok now Nikki?"

I may have calmed down, but I still have a grin spread across my face. "Sure am! That was awesome!"

She rolls her eyes at me. "Don't you think you overreacted a little? It wasn't _that _funny."

Ouch, the girl knows where to hit where it hurts. "Aw come on Lacus! I wasn't going to let her push you around like that! Besides didn't you see? She friggin wet herself! And the way they scurried away like dogs with their tails between their legs." Oh crap…I'm going to start up again.

Lacus doesn't seem to find this amusing. "And I appreciate how you watch out for me Nikki, but it wouldn't have been much different with anyone else. You have this dark aura around you every time you get angry that people just want to run away from."

I have a dark aura? No wonder people are scared of me. "What colour is it?"

She sighs. "It's not visible."

I grin. "I know I'm just playing around with you."

Which reminds me… I need to ask her about this morning.

"Say… Lacus?

"Yes?"

"Did I piss you off this morning? You were pretty angry."

I watch her shoulders slump. "I'm sorry about that Nikki. While you were out last night, I received a phone call from Miss Allster."

What the hell? "Allster called you? How in the hell did she even get a hold of your number?"

"I'm not sure, but she spent half an hour swearing at me and warning me that if I didn't stop seeing Kira that she'd…"

Her eyes suddenly widen and before I know it, she collapses against me in hysterics. My arms shoot out to hold her so she doesn't fall off her seat. Hang on…what just happened? What's so funny?

"Um…Lacus? What did she say she would do?"

She manages to gasp out words that I barely understand. "She said that…(giggle)…that she'd…(giggle)…send Miss Wilkinson and Miss Campbell to…(giggle)…beat you up after school!"

And I've lost her…wait did she say Wilkinson and Campbell? Allster was going to send _them _to beat me up? I laugh alongside my sister. That was the most absurd thing I've heard all year. How can she hope those two sheep of hers will stand a chance against me if they too scared to even stand up to one of my glares?

Her giggles subside after a little while and she's able to speak again. "Anyway…I'm sorry about my behaviour this morning, sis. All that was in my head was how rudely she spoke of Kira. All she plans to do is sleep with him before she graduates. She doesn't even love him!"

I nod in agreement. "Oh I know all about that." I sling a sisterly arm over her shoulder. "Don't you worry sis! Before this year is even finished, I'm going to make sure both Allster and Edwards are out of our lives and we are both dating the men that we love."

Lacus smiles happily at me. "Sounds like a dream come true!"

To be quite honest, I'm not sure how much longer this charade is going to carry on. I'm not too worried about Allster; I have no problem handling her like I did today. My main concern right now is to avoid Edwards (I've made a habit of calling him that lately, he is undeserving of my calling him of his first name) and coming up with a strategy so I can finally end things with him for good. I also need to figure out how I'm going to accomplish this without any harm coming to Kai. Seems I have quite the challenge ahead of me.

Let the games begin.

End of Chapter 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Blah, blah, blah, blah, Kai, blah blah, Kai, blah blah Kai, oh damn it you stupid brain, can't you, just for one friggin day, pay attention? This here is the pathetic state my mind resides to whenever I'm in class. The 'blah blah blah', is the non-stop blabber I hear coming from the front of the class. As for the Kai part…well I find myself concentrating even less with my ever so irresistible, scrumptious boyfriend sitting next to me. (Yes, he's my boyfriend, I don't give a damn what Edwards says) Just the scent from his jacket sends my hormones into overdrive and I have a hard enough time trying to restrain myself from jumping him. I thought I'd be able to wait until Friday night. But today is Thursday, I'm in the middle of the most boring class ever, and I don't know how much longer I can survive without the feeling of his warm hugs and his tasty, addictive lips… Friggin hell I need to get a grip before I go completely insane. 

"Oi, Nikki, class is over."

Eh? I look around and sure enough, everyone is leaving the classroom. Wow…so much for a boring lesson. There isn't any homework is there? When I see the teacher leave, I figure I may as well start heading to my next class. But I barely move forward a step before I find myself on my back (and on my desk), and someone's mouth crashing desperately onto mine. If this were some random, horny perv, I would've sent him flying into next year. But luckily for him, I recognise my sweet Kai's scent immediately and I feel myself relax underneath him. Now this is what I'm talking about. Wait…aren't we still at school?

I gasp and shove him away from me. He stares at me in confusion but respectively backs away. "What's wrong?"

I push myself up so that I'm sitting on my desk. "I won't lie. That was incredible; the last thing I wanted to do was stop."

He urges me to continue. "But…?"

"But we're in school! Someone…might see us." The more I keep up these petty excuses, the more I realize just how unreasonable I'm being. I've made my choice. I had made my choice the moment I had decided to meet Kai in the park Tuesday night. And now what was I doing? Trying to stop the best thing that has happened in the last two days? I was desperate to the point of a break down, and I push him away? What in the hell is wrong with you, you stupid girl!

"Uh…Nikki are you ok? You seem extremely agitated."

My eyes dart to him. "Huh? Oh sorry…my mind likes to wander off."

He grins. "So I've noticed." His smile then disappears and he sighs. "I understand how you feel, but we're in the furthest room away from the main grounds, and everyone has gone to break. What are the chances of us getting caught? I wouldn't have kissed you like that if I had known someone might find us."

I would love to agree with him, but one little tiny flaw is nagging the back of my head. "Edwards is smarter than you give him credit for."

He tilts his head. Aw so cute! "How do you mean?"

"He'll notice that neither of us is at the main grounds. He'll grow suspicious of our absence and think we're up to something."

A cheeky grin appears on his face. "But we are up to something."

I roll my eyes and playfully swat the side of his head. "But we don't want him thinking that! Come on we better go. My sister most likely knows and will want juicy details."

He doesn't seem ready to let me go just yet, since I find myself trapped with his arms leaning on the desk on either side of me. "One last kiss before you go?"

Well I'm hardly able to say no being encased the way I am. But how can anyone refuse those puppy dog eyes? I oblige to his request and give him a loving, brush of the lips. I then slip my legs up from underneath him and spin around to escape the other way.

He gawks at me. "Hey, that was uncalled for!"

I grin and blow a kiss at him. "Don't complain! You got what you wanted!" I can hear my laugh echoing as I leave the room. My good mood doesn't last when I notice movement from the corner of my eye. My eyes dart to the wall in time to see someone hurry down the dark side of the corridor. I race to beat the figure before they could escape out the other end. Once I reach the end, I crouch behind the wall and wait. I can hear the footsteps gradually becoming louder. At the last moment, my hand shoots out and I grab the back of someone's shirt. I yank them back and slam them up against the wall. What the? Who is this guy?

I glare at him. "Who are you? And why were you spying on me?

This sneaky spy squirms under my grasp. "You'll have to do better than that do get me to squeal!"

Oh you want more? Ok you asked for it. I punch my fist into the wall, centimetres away from his head, showing a huge dent in the solid cement. And now he's starting to sweat. Doesn't take much does it?

I press my gravel-covered knuckles against his throat. "Unless you want that same damage done to your young, pretty boy face. I suggest you TALK!"

He's now trying to push away my hand that has him trapped. "Ok! Ok I give up! I'm working for Darren Edwards!"

Frigging hell…why am I not surprised? "Ah I see what this is…and what were you about to tell him before I found you?"

I harden my glare so that he doesn't clam up on me again. "That you and…Rodgericks were making out in an empty classroom."

I had a feeling that Edwards had hired spies, but to actually discover one was something else. But I think I may be able to use this to my advantage.

"Answer me this…does Edwards pay you for the trouble he's putting you through? He is making you snoop into other peoples privacy."

He answers quickly. "He gives me fifty bucks after school every day."

I can't help but laugh. Oh yeah, I should let him go; I think he's willing to listen. I remove my hand and he falls to the ground, rubbing his neck. "Listen kid, why don't you start working for me instead, and do a little double agent work? You do this and I can definitely make it worth your while."

He looks at me with interest. "How much are we talking?"

Gotcha. "How about we start off those daily prices with around…let's say, oh I dunno… two hundred?" Whoop! There go those wide eyes! I have his attention now. "And if Edwards ever attempts to top those stakes, well I'll be there to constantly raise it even higher." This isn't an issue…I don't give half a crap about my money. I could stand to drop some of it anyway. Even ask Lacus, she agrees with me.

The young kid however is overly eager to accept my terms. "You have a deal! What would you like me to do first?"

May as well get him started. I dig my hands into my pocket and pull out a hundred dollar note. "Well for starters, Edwards will most likely be wondering where you are. So if you want this, you need to find him and feed him whatever lie comes into you brain." I bend down and glare at him. "If you so much as squeak a word of this to him…I _will _know about it. So I suggest you keep your end of the bargain…understood?"

"Y…y…yes ma'am."

"Good, now you better hurry along if you want this precious money of yours."

Seems he doesn't need to be told twice. He darts off into the grounds in search of Edwards. I should really follow him, just to make sure he isn't a lying little pest. I walk into the grounds and easily spot him and Edwards talking near the entrance. I quietly move closer so I can hear what they're saying. Once I'm in earshot, I quickly hide myself from view.

"Well…you were away a while. Did you find anything?"

"Well yeah but nothing that important."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw them in the classroom, but they were only studying. From the sounds of it, she was tutoring him."

There's silence for a few seconds. "What did she sound like when she was speaking to him?"

Oh hell…he better come up with something good.

"Like they were total strangers. When he tried to sway even a little off topic, she would snap at him. She seemed pretty strict."

I have to hand it to him; I couldn't have put that better myself.

"Excellent. It's good to know that she's behaving herself. Keep up the outstanding work."

"Yes sir."

Well it seems Edwards has believed the fairytale. My little helper has definitely earned his reward.

I peek around the corner to see the spy making his way back to where I first found him. I should really find out what his name is. I walk back the way I came to go meet him. And sure enough, there he is. Bouncing on the balls of his feet like a little toddler waiting for Santa Clause. These people are just so eager for money aren't they?

He doesn't seem to notice I'm coming. I stop when I'm only a couple of metres away. "That was a pretty impressive lie."

I can't help but chuckle when he jumps in fright. "Ma'am! Y-you startled me!"

This 'Ma'am' business was starting to get on my nerves. "First of all Mister…the names Nikki…second of all…you never told me your name."

The boy fidgeted with his fingers. "Benjamin Garrison…but my friends just call me Ben."

I nod as I once again pull out the hundred-dollar note. Only this time, I hold it out for him to take. "Well Ben, you delivered as promised. Here is my end of the bargain."

He cautiously takes the money out of my hand. Honestly dude, it's not glass. It isn't going to break.

"Is there anything else you'd like me to do? I want to honestly earn the rest of the money for the day."

I nod. "Alright then. As I mentioned before, I'll need you to do some double-agency. I want you to continue to appear to everyone on the outside that you're working for Edwards. But if there is anything I need to know, find me in a place you know nobody else will find us. I will be informing Kai of this arrangement as well, so if you see us together there'll be no need for you to panic."

He shrugs. "I wasn't worried about him in the first place. From what I saw earlier, you two seem joined at the hip anyway. You look like you're going through torture if you're away from him for more than five minutes."

Sneaky, observant, little bugger. "That…_Ben…_is none of your beeswax." Good, made him flinch. He shouldn't be sticking his head into my private love life. "Now why don't you run along and dig up some dirt for me? You want that two hundred don't you?"

His eyes flash with hunger and he bolts away with a cloud dust behind him. I wave my hand to get rid of the flying particles that were in my face. That kid…just like the friggin Road Runner.

Well since I can't go back to see Kai…ah! Let's see what Echo's doing! Haven't seen her around lately. I look around in search for my best friend. Oh there she is. What is she doing? Oh no…is she bribing again? Better pull her out before she goes mad. As I walk closer, the crowd that's around her is moving further away. At first I think it's because I'm coming, but when I look over Echo's shoulder…Oh what in the hell is that? My best friend here is capable of inventing anything. She could find some scrap metal off the streets and turn it into something futuristic that can forever change the history of our country. She has yet to accomplish this but I'd be willing to bet that she'll have a huge breakthrough one of these days. Fame is just waiting for you, isn't it Echo?

And I'm not even sure what I'm staring at right now. But gathering from her expression, I'm guessing it's something very destructive. How did she sneak it into school?

"Uh…Echo?"

She turns her bright, shining eyes towards me and I find myself retreating back a few steps.

"Nikki! I have made a discovery. This could be my greatest invention yet! Now… you see this? This is an odometer for this, which controls this system here, which connects to this circuit down here and… Oh it's just so beautiful!"

I stare blankly at her. What in the hell is she blabbering on about? When she does 'normal' alterations on things like my car, I can usually understand what she's saying. But with randomly built gizmos like this thing…it's like she's discovered a piece of technology from another friggin planet. It's times like these I wonder if Echo is an alien life form herself. No wonder she scared her own customers off.

"Echo!"

She looks at me again with her scary, smile. Heaven help me.

"Listen, I know you're excited about your…discovery. But if you want to attract people into buying inventions from you, then you need to advertise more…normal merchandise."

Her amethyst eyes leer at me. "And what would you call…normal?"

I count my fingers off. "Well let's see. You can earn simple money by doing maintenance on homes and vehicles. Or you can build and improve devices that people would use on a day-to-day basis. Just simple steps like that, and before you know it you'll be overloaded with customers."

Her eyes seem really glittery now. Well done Nikki, you've made your best friend scarier than usual. Well her main focus is to earn money.

"Nikki you're a genius! But…but…"

No…she can't be deflating already!

"What about my new inventions?"

I look down at the mysteriously lit up gadget that she's holding. "Well uh…I'm not sure what that one is for…I'll let you figure it out. But if you decide to make anything else like it, why not build something that's beneficial for yourself? Aren't you looking for more work around that…constantly growing mansion of yours?"

It's true that Echo grows wealthier with each day that passes by. But she is extremely modest. She has nowhere near the amount of money that my family possesses, but I make sure to tell her every day that I am more than willing to help her business by contributing a fair portion of my finances.

**For those that have read this far and would like to know the extent of Nikki's wealth, she is a 'many times over, multi-billionaire.' She took over the title as head of the family when her father died. It was officially written in his will that she be his successor. Before she inherited this honour however, she endured a lifetime of a family filled with power-hungry relatives. She saw how this greed turned people against each other and has hated her wealth ever since. But being the generous person that she is, she split her shares and gave half of everything to her sister. Anyway, sorry about the blabber…let's continue on with the story. **

Echo's eyes are now way too bright for my liking. What have I done?

"You're so brilliant! I knew there was a reason you're my best friend!" She grabs my arms and spins me around in a circle. I laugh at her hyper ness. She can be a handful sometimes, but I'll admit that she's hell fun to be around. Can't help but love the girl.

"Echo! Getting a little dizzy here!"

This is the fun part. She rapidly lets go of me, which causes me to stumble backwards. She rushes forward to help me but I laugh and wave her off.

"It's fine, I'm all right. That was actually pretty fun."

Ah seems she's realized I pulled a small prank on her.

"You did that on purpose, you sneaky devil!"

I grin and give a small bow. "Thank you, thank you I'm here all week."

Her expression suddenly turns curious. "How're things going between you and lover boy over there?" She turns her gaze to stare at something behind me. I shift to the side to glance at the corner of my eye to see none other than my beloved Kai, sitting by himself underneath a tree. I can't help my lips from spreading into a soft smile.

It seems Echo saw my lovesick expression. "You have it real bad for Mr. Perfect don't ya?"

I whip back around to glare at her. "Shut up. And why don't you just call him Kai?"

She grins. "That wouldn't be any fun now would it."

I roll my eyes. Typical Echo. "Well I'm going back over there, see you round. And be careful with those mice of yours."

I'm met with an innocent smile… Oh hell, please do not use those mice. She has these, highly, explosive bombs that appear to everyone else as little wind up mouse toys. Oh if only they _were _simply just toys. I still feel shivers whenever I remember the last encounter I had with them. I had made the stupid mistake of trying to surprise her when I was fourteen years old. We hadn't seen each other in several months, and I was desperate to see my best friend again. I managed to escape all of her security traps (she should really program them so they only attack _real _break ins) and climbed the side of her house towards her balcony. Once I was inside her bedroom, I had unfortunately let my guard down. Next instant, the lights were on and those deadly mice were flung at me from all directions. All I remember is the throbbing all through my body, and the smell of smoke. I vaguely heard Echo crying apologies at me, and saying that she missed me. But after that it pretty much goes blank. Stupid mice. But I can't really blame her; she honestly did think that I was a thug trying to break in.

I shake my head at the memory. I can safely say that I've learnt my lesson. I just wished I didn't have to learn the hard and painful way. I need to make sure people know about that extremely guarded home she has before they just go waltzing in there. They won't ever come back alive with that suicidal idea. Yes, being Echo's best friend definitely keeps me on my toes. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Well let's see what everyone else is up to. Athrun and Cagalli? Sharing a private moment that is clearly wearing a sign screaming, 'DO NOT DISTURB'. My boyfriend? Has fallen asleep under the same tree. I really wish I could join him. Jason and Jenny? Seriously! Get a room guys! Sheesh. Moving on! Kira and Lacus…and a screaming Allster? Hello…this seems entertaining. From this distance she sounds too much like a banshee for me to understand her. Let's see if I can help with this situation.

"I don't believe this! You're just going to throw two wonderful years away for some random pink haired bimbo? Do I mean NOTHING to you Kira?"

Ok let's figure this sentence out. She's shouting at Kira, so I'm guessing he's in the middle of dumping her. And she once again has the nerve to insult my sister, which means he must've told her he's in love with Lacus. So the boy finally became a man eh? Good for you Kira.

"SHUT UP, FLAY!"

Holy crap…was that Kira I just heard? Never in my life have I heard him yell that way. He doesn't seem like the type to lose his temper. But I guess Allsters' annoying persistence finally made him snap. And it seems she's just as stunned as I am. Her mouth opens and closes like a codfish, making her look even more ridiculous. Close it, girly. You've already embarrassed yourself enough. Meanwhile, I want to hear what Kira has to say.

I watch in awe as his body shakes with rage. "For the last two years, I've stood back and let you insult the girl I love the most. But this ends NOW! In all this time…Nikki has been the only person to stand up to you and your pathetic excuse for a cheerleading team!"

Ouch…that one had to sting. She looks like she's just been slapped. And why'd you have to go and bring me into it huh?

"I've had it up to here with your selfish meddling! You think I didn't know that your only reason for being with me…was to seduce me before graduation?"

Wow…he's really letting her have it isn't he? I think it's time someone calms him down. And as if she read my mind, Lacus lays a gentle hand on his shoulder. When it seems he's relaxed, she turns and nods in my direction. Well…that's my cue. As Lacus steers her angry boyfriend away, I slowly stride up to the trembling redhead, whose feet seem rooted to the spot.

"Allster…"

Her terrified eyes turn to look at me.

"This will probably be the nicest thing you'll ever hear from me, so listen closely." I pause for a moment until I was certain I had her attention.

"Most of the reason I've despised you for so long, is mainly because you've continued to treat my sister like dirt since the day we met. And no matter how many times I tried to threaten or scare you away, you always came back determined to ruin Lacus' life. But no matter how many times you pissed me off…I never had, or will I ever, have any real intention of physically harming you or your friends. I might've stepped over those boundaries a little earlier, but seeing someone handle Lacus in such a way has always pushed me over the edge. Trust me…compared to some people, you were lucky to walk away conscious."

Her eyes widen in shock. "What did you do to…the other people?"

"They were disgusting thugs from the street that decided they wanted to…play with my sister. They needed a few ambulances by the time I was finished with them."

I think it's finally sunk into her brain that I'm one of the last people on earth she wants to mess with. "I…uh…I'm not sure what I should say."

"You don't need to say anything. But promise me something. Your life will be miserable if you continue down the path that you're on. I know that somewhere past the mean popular cheerleader I've been seeing for the past two years, there is a caring sweet girl that is fighting to come out. If I had met her two years ago, I would've gladly made friends with her."

I turn and leave her to think about everything I've said. I have Lacus to thank for this; she was the one that taught me to believe that even the cruellest person on earth has goodness buried deep within them. And I am willing to believe that Allster has some good in her as well. But I will respect whatever decision she makes, even if she chooses to stay as she is.

"Clyne…wait."

I stop walking and look back at her. She walks a few cautious steps towards me. Oh come on Allster…I'm not _that _scary.

"I guess you've already figured out that all three of us are after certain guys, right?"

I raise my eyebrow at her. Where was this going? "Yes I'm aware, what about it?"

She looks around for before leaning in to whisper. "I think you ought to know that Gwen is after Rodgericks."

My eyes widen a little. But my face remains as passive as possible. "Really? That's interesting."

She rolls her eyes. Oh hell…she knows doesn't she? "Don't bother trying to hide it. It's so obvious you two are sneaking around behind Edwards back."

I put my hands up. "Alright, fine. You caught me…but wait. If you knew, you had every chance of telling Edwards everything and blowing my cover."

She shrugs. "I might've been mean to your sister, but that man is something else. There's something not right about him. I do my best to stay out of his way. I'm surprised you went out with him in the first place."

I snort. "You and me both. But you're right. He was nothing like this a year ago…something, or someone has drastically changed him."

Ok, two things are going through my head right now. One, I am having a civil conversation with Flay Allster…has hell officially frozen over? I guess she's not that bad when you get to know her, she just needed a nice swift kick up the rear. Two; I have this nagging feeling that Edwards older brother Liam might have something to do with his rather sudden switch of personality. I felt a disturbing vibe coming from him the day I met him, so I'm afraid to say that he's placed some creepy influence on his little brother. But this is just a theory; I could be completely off track.

"Uh…Cl-…Nikki?"

Well that's super freaky, Allster calling me by my first name.

"Yes?"

"Gwen is making her move."

My head whips around and I see Wilkinson sitting next to my boyfriend and doing her best attempt at battering her eyelashes at him. Wow…I think I'm going to be sick. I am unfortunately unable to do anything about it; this is all happening in clear view for everybody to watch so I am forced to stay put and watch. The redhead next to me however seems to think otherwise.

She goes behind me and pushes me in the back. "What are you waiting for? Don't let her get away with it! Stop her! He's your boyfriend, not hers!"

I stubbornly dig my heels into the ground. "I can't…Edwards will see."

She continues to try and shove me forward. "To hell with Edwards! He's going to find out eventually anyway! Are you just going to stand by while she throws herself all over him?"

For days now my mind and heart have been in conflict with each other. And it seems today is the day the final showdown takes place and I need to make my decision. My eyes dart to where Darren is standing before reverting back to see Gwen leaning dangerously close to Kai's face. My eyebrow twitches and something inside of me snaps as all doubts of being caught suddenly vanish from my mind. I stomp loudly over to them and yank her roughly by the ponytail. Kai, who had been frantically trying to push her away, is startled by my sudden appearance.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing Wilkinson?"

She scratches at my hand that has a tight hold of her hair. "Let me go Clyne! Mind your own friggin business!"

"Yes Clyne, you really should mind your own business."

I release my hold on Wilkinson and turn around to see Edwards staring at me with a blank expression. I stand my ground and glare at him. No, this is the final straw; I'm tired of letting him do what he wants.

"Stay out of this Edwards! I'm sick of you strutting around like you own everything! Why don't you do everyone a favour and butt out!"

He snarled at me. "Watch your tongue Clyne! Or have you forgotten what the consequences will be?"

I laugh at him. Can't believe I ever felt threatened by him "Oh I haven't forgotten, but I am beyond caring at this point."

He loses his temper and his voice rises. "Shut the hell up! You are going to keep your end of the deal!"

I shout back at him. "Or else what?"

He opens his mouth to retort but immediately closes it. Oh I have you now.

"Go ahead Edwards. Why don't you tell everyone what you planned to do if I ever dared to go against you?"

A large crowd has gathered around our rather dramatic scene. All eyes are now on my ex, waiting with abated breath to see how he would answer. But it doesn't look like he's willing to spill anytime soon.

I grin smugly at him. "Well? Everyone's waiting."

He clenches his fist. "Fine! Do what you want! But mark my words Clyne! You haven't seen the last of me! Don't forget that I DID warn you!"

He turns and stalks away, shoving his way through the circle of onlookers. As I watch his figure disappear, I feel a large burden lift from my shoulders. I've done it, Edwards is finally out of my life. I am free at last, to be with the one that I love the most. Speaking of which, I swivel around to look at my boyfriend. He's on his feet and smiling wildly at me with open arms. I eagerly run towards him and throw myself into his embrace. To the side, I can see Wilkinson staring with her jaw practically hitting the floor. Ha! Serves you right for trying to hit on my man!

I ignore her and turn my attention back to Kai. We pull away from our hug only to lean back a moment later and join our mouths together in a passionate kiss, along with about half of the school cheering loudly. But I could care less; I was now free to be with the person I love the most.

The rest of the day went rather smoothly. I spent the remainder of break, and the rest of the school day, practically glued to Kai's side. Our studying in class usually (much to the annoying of the teachers) ended up with us flirting. Hey I tried to tutor the guy, but he kept nuzzling my neck, you have no idea how friggin distracting that is.

And right now? We are snuggled together on my large couch in the living room. He is lying on his back while I'm sprawled on top of his chest, my head resting on his shoulder. I feel as light as a feather, with, for the first time in weeks, absolutely nothing to worry about. Kira and Lacus are officially together, and Allster has finally decided to grow up and…actually become rather nice.

Although I wish I could say the same for her former friends, Campbell and Wilkinson. But they seem set on gripping Athrun and Kai into their evil little clutches. Thankfully I have Allster…oh all right…Flays', help to stop them from doing anything too drastic.

'_Riiing!'_

Stupid phone. Who the hell is calling? "Lacus! Can you answer that?"

Silence

"Lacus?"

Kai's voice sounds out from underneath me. "She doesn't appear to be home."

I sigh and roll off his chest. "She's never home anymore."

I wander into the kitchen and pick up the vibrating device. "Hello? Clyne Residence."

"_Ah…is this Nikki?"_

"Yeah, that's me… who is this?"

"_I'm hurt…you mean you don't recognise your precious Uncle's voice?"_

My face screws up. "Uncle Robert?" Why in the hell is he calling?

"_Yes! It's been a long time! How is my lovely young niece doing?"_

He always did have a nasty habit of beating around bush. "Cut the crap, I hardly think you called here after ten years just to simply catch up. Now what the hell do you want?"

"_Well I see you're your mothers daughter all right. She also preferred to cut right to the chase. You sound just like her as well."_

Urgh…fuse is reaching the end of the line buddy! "Shut up about my mother, now tell me what you want before I hang up this damn phone."

"_All right fine. I've been meeting with other…certain family members about the content of your fathers will."_

Oh hell…is that what this is all about? This conversation is going to bore me to tears.

"What about my fathers will?"

"_It claims he left everything him and his wife owned into your care. Right down to the very…last…penny."_

Greedy bastard. You're just jealous and want to steal everything. "Let me guess, you want some form of negotiation where I'll sign everything over to someone who is much older and more capable of holding onto such a large and handsome sum of money. Is that right?"

"_Well that is part of why I wanted to chat yes, but we also couldn't help but notice that you forfeited half of all that your parents left you…to your younger sister. We're worried that it might not have been, in your best interest, a very wise choice."_

These guys just don't know when to stop do they? "Let me make something perfectly clear to you. My father entrusted all his money and property to me, and only me. And since I have full ownership, I have the free will to use it all as I please. So quite frankly, the fact that I gave half of my inheritance to Lacus is none of your bloody business. Besides, the last thing I'll be doing is placing it into the hands of power hungry tyrants like you. So, I suggest you pull those large snoopy noses out from where they don't belong… AND LEAVE US THE BLOODY HELL ALONE!"

I slam down the phone with smoke practically bellowing from my ears. This is why I do my best to avoid _relatives_. They don't friggin care about my sister or me. All they want is to take away everything we have and use it on them, to the point where they'll explode with wealth. They've been badgering my parents for years, and now they have the gall to come and bother me with this nonsense. But the only thing I can do is to keep profusely rejecting their offers. Since I am technically the head of our family, their only course of action is to obey me and back down like good boys and girls. But they're like flies that like to continuously come back during the summertime, they…just…don't…leave…me…alone! Lacus is literally the only family I have that has my full, undying trust.

I must be really bothered by this, because I jump when I feel two arms snake around my waist and hug me tightly. Oh Kai…you're always there when I need you the most.

"Hey, is everything ok? I could hear you yelling from the other end of the house."

I place my hands on his. "Just my stupid rellies. They've been trying for years to get a hold of everything my parents own. My fathers line has been the wealthiest family for several generations. And people like my Uncle, who I was talking to just now, are willing to gnaw off their own limbs to take only a handful of what we have."

I feel his chest rumble as he chuckles. "They're not trying very hard if they keep backing away."

I swivel around to look at him. "That's because they take orders from me. If I say no, they have no right to do or say anything."

His eyebrows shoot into his hair. "Why is that?'

I grin. "Because money and property aren't the only things my father left me. He placed the entire business under my name, which means that I am legally the head of our entire family."

Kai's jaw drops. "Wow, you seriously can't be too many steps away from being royalty."

I roll my eyes and softly slap his chest. "Well there is some nobility in my blood somewhere, but I haven't really bothered to look up on any Genealogy."

He smiles softly. "Well I couldn't care less if you were a princess or a poor beggar from the street. I think you're perfect just the way you are, inside and out."

Aaaawww, now do you see why I've fallen for this man? He never runs out of these amazing compliments that never fail to make me melt. And now he has that soft look on his face that tells me how precious I am to him. Well of course I'm looking back at him! Kai means the world to me!

"And you are the sweetest, most charming man on the face of this planet."

All right, so my line is a hell of a lot cheesier than his was, but I wanted to say something! Ooooooh he's pulling me closer, I feel another make out fest on its way! Closer, closer…contact! My brain has now melted into a puddle of goo. It never fails to happen with each kiss that we share. I slide my hands up his shoulders, to his neck and they finally rest in his messy hair.

This is going to take a while…

(Darren's' POV)

I slam my apartment door open so hard, it almost comes off its hinges. But I was too angry to care. The nerve of him! He thinks he can just waltz into _my _school and steal my girlfriend? Well he has another thing coming; I'm going to make him pay for taking what is rightfully mine!

I yank my mobile out of my pocket before dialling a certain number. I bring the phone up to my ear and wait with very little patience for this person to answer. Pick up the phone, damn it!"

"_Hello?"_

"Yes, this is Darren Edwards."

"_What can I do for you Mr. Edwards?'_

"I have big cash for you and your boys, if you can have someone taken care of for me."

"_It's a pleasure doing business. Who is our target?"_

My mouth curls into an evil smirk.

"Kai Rodgericks."

**(Seven-thirty the following night)**

(Kai's POV)

I absent-mindedly make my way down the dark streets towards Nikki's house. Her and Lacus had decided to hold a nice dinner with all our friends and I am apparently the last one to arrive. But I'm not in any real panic, I'm only a couple of blocks away now, I'll be there in a few minutes.

I suddenly hear the snapping of a twig behind me. I whip around to find nobody there. Why do I have the strangest feeling that I'm being watched? I shrug to myself. I'm probably just being paranoid. I turn back just in time to see someone's fist flying towards my face. I feel a sharp pain before everything goes black.

'Nikki…'

(Nikki's POV)

I halt in my tracks when I suddenly feel my heart twisting. Oh no…something bad has happened.

Jenny, who was standing near me, looks at me in concern. "Nikki? Are you ok?"

I stare wide-eyed at her. "I'm not sure, I just got this horrible feeling. Jenny I need you to call Athrun and Kira, they're taking their sweet time getting back from the supermarket. I'll call Kai and find out what's taking him so long."

Just as I pull my phone out, my screen lights up to show Kira calling me. I press answer and place the receiver to my ear.

"Kira? Where the hell are you?"

"_Never mind about that! We have a more serious problem."_

"What do you mean?" Why is my heart hurting more than ever?

"_It's Kai…he's been brutally attacked."_

I lose grip of the phone as it slips from my grasp and smashes on the tiled floor.

_**End of Chapter**_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 3

It was very easy to avoid Kai the weekend following the party. I spent most of those days either in my room or with my sister. I wasn't up to seeing anyone else. Echo came around a few times and she took my mind of my depressing thoughts for a while. But it's now once again Monday and I'm dreading going back to school. Darren will most likely try to parade me around (like hell he will!) and I doubt I'll be able to even glance at Kai without my heart breaking all over again. Oh hell, he sits next to me in classes as well.

I walk slowly towards school, behind my chattering friends. Now and then I see Lacus shoot worrying glances at me over her shoulder. Echo had offered to walk behind with me but I refused. I need a few minutes to brace myself before we reach school. Thankfully, she understood. More quickly than I would've liked, we've walked into the school gates. I feel myself tense; this is going to be a really long day.

I see all my friends suddenly staring at something behind me. I give them all a curious look. My sister looks extremely nervous.

"What?"

"Nikki."

My shoulders immediately stiffen. Kai. Why did he have to spot me now? I don't want to have to hurt him all over again. I turn around to face him, keeping my expression as neutral as possible.

"Good morning Kai."

He seems to notice the forced formality in my voice as his eyes once again darken in sadness. He steps towards me but stops when I step back from him.

"Nikki please, why you're doing this…this isn't like you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Did I mention how much I hate lying?

He dashes forward and grips my shoulders. "Stop it! I'm begging you! Tell me the truth!"

My gaze lowers to the ground. If I look into his desperate eyes one more time, I fear the truth will come tumbling out. Please Kai…just stop. This is for your own good.

"Get away from my girlfriend Rodgericks."

Oh great… perfect timing. If there was anyone I wanted to avoid the most today, it was that stupid, selfish, dictating, life controller over there. I lift my head to glare at the smirking man standing behind Kai. I'm startled when Kai suddenly whips around to face him and grabs his collar.

"What have you done to her?"

Darren plays innocent and shrugs. "I don't know what you're talking about. She's clearly with me because she wants to be. Guess she was just playing with you after all."

I feel my body shaking with rage. He was really laying it on thick wasn't he? I watch Kai, as he seems to be just as angry as I am.

"Damn you…I know something is going on here. And I'm not going to stop until I find out what it is!" His voice is filled with so much determination, I find myself staring in awe at him.

Darren just continues smirking like the egotistical moron that he is. "Well good luck with that, let me know if you find anything."

Before Kai has a chance to retort, the school bell rings out. Without another word or glance at anyone, I turn around and run to my homeroom class. Once I am inside, I hurry over to my desk and collapse in my seat. I may as well enjoy this time to myself before I have to endure the incredibly awkward time I'm going to have once Kai comes in. I sigh sadly to myself. How did I get myself into this mess? I should've just been strong from the beginning. Darren would be out of my life and I would be happily together with Kai.

I'm startled when someone sits in the chair next to me. I glance to the side, and sure enough, there's Kai, staring at me with emotion filled eyes. I avoid his gaze and turn back to the window. Yep… this is definitely going to be awkward. But it seems he's determined not to give up.

"Nikki, I'm begging you to listen to me. You don't have to say anything. I know something isn't right. That night I found you leaving the party; you seemed sad and depressed even before you pushed me away. So I figured something bad must've happened." I have to give credit to him for figuring this much out already by mere common sense. "And I know Edwards is involved in this somehow, he was acting very proud and smug this morning…I know he's done something to you Nikki, or at least said something to keep the two of us apart."

Ok, that's kind of scary, he pretty much has it all worked out. Only part he doesn't know is the confrontation that concurred between Darren and myself. Oh he's still talking I should pay attention.

"I'm going to give you one final decision Nikki. If you really, truly love me, then meet me tomorrow night at the park between here and your house at ten o clock sharp. But if you don't show up, then I'll take it as a sign that you really do just want to stay with Darren."

I mentally laugh. Like hell I want to stay with Darren, but this also leaves me in a bit of a dilemma. What if Darren sees us? I wouldn't be surprised if he's hired cronies to spy on me twenty-four, seven. I really do want to go meet him and tell him how much I really do love him. But ten o' clock was too risky, we needed to meet later. I feel a small plan building inside my head.

As I predicted, there was silence between us all through homeroom class, and the remainder of school. The moment the final bell goes off, I power walk out of the school and head straight home. I send a quick text message to Kira, asking him to make sure my sister arrives home safely. Are they together yet? Haven't seen much of Allster lately.

The moment I'm in my room, I pull out my phone again. I scroll through my contacts list before stopping and pressing on a certain name. Then slowly, I jab the message into my phone.

'Ten o' clock is too risky. Can we make it midnight? I'll explain everything tomorrow night."

That seems discreet enough. I go over the short text one more time before pressing 'send.' Once I see that it's sent, I place my phone on my bedside table then lie back on my bed, waiting in anticipation for his reply. A few minutes go by and I feel myself getting drowsy. Just as my eyes begin drooping, my phone sounds out loudly from next to me. My eyes snap wide open and I reach over to snatch it off the table. I look at the screen to happily see the name of my desired sender. I eagerly open and read the following message.

'Midnight it is then. I look forward to having our talk. I will see you tomorrow night. Until then…I love you.'

Well, you've probably guessed by now whom this text is from. Against Darren's warnings, I will be sneaking out tomorrow night to meet my beloved Kai in secret. My only hope is that we aren't discovered by anybody, especially someone who might blow our cover and inform Darren. But hey I need to stay optimistic, this is my chance to finally tell Kai everything, and then maybe…hopefully…we can be together.

Even though I had erased the tension between Kai and myself, I still needed to avoid him at school to convince Darren we're still on the rocks. And you know what? It worked. He was none the wiser to our little act and would continue throwing smirks in Kai's direction. I couldn't help but roll my eyes when I saw this, that idiot was so immature. Kai was the mature one and would just ignore him. When Darren wasn't looking, however, I would sneak glances at Kai and find him staring straight back at me, which caused me to blush furiously and look away. Our little game continued the rest of the day, and we were thankfully secretive enough for Darren not to notice anything. The git was too busy walking around with a cabinet shoved up his arse.

When break finally arrives, I don't feel up to seeing or talking to anyone. So I go to the other only place where I seek comfort. The Performing Arts Centre; starting from a very young age, I always took a strong interest in music and my mother had taken it upon herself to personally teach me in a few areas. I grew strong in the ways of piano and violin but my main interest was to build up my voice. I've been singing since before I could even walk and have been practising non-stop ever since. But very few people know about my hidden talents, I haven't even told Kai for some unknown reason. Why would I keep anything from him? I have fallen in love with him haven't I? I will most definitely have lots to tell him when I get the chance, but it's a little difficult right now since I'm not allowed to be seen anywhere near him.

I arrive to my desired room and push open two large double doors to reveal hundreds of seats facing a spacious, wooden stage. I walk down and head straight for the stairs located at the side. I hastily climb them and head towards the back. A few minutes of scrummaging and dragging and I have my self-made stereo (which strictly has songs that I myself composed) and a microphone.

I click the 'play' button on the remote, and my soul is set free as my mouth opens and a soft melody tune escapes my mouth.

(Kai's POV)

I wasn't surprised when Nikki bolted out of class the moment it ended. But when I didn't see her with her friends, or anywhere in the school grounds, I found myself starting to worry. So now I'm wandering the halls and peeking into random classrooms to see if she's hidden herself to-"

_Oooh oooh oh…oh oh oh oh ooooooh!_

Wait…who's singing?

_Do dooo do do! Oh I just can't help falling in love with you._

I find myself hypnotised. Whoever this was had the most beautiful singing voice I had ever heard. I follow the sound to end up outside the Performing Arts Centre.

Wise men say…only fools rush in, But I can't help falling in love with you

I open the door and carefully peek inside, not wanting to disturb this joyous sound. What I wasn't expecting however was to see none other than Nikki herself. There she is, standing near the front of the stage, with her eyes closed and her voice projecting the lyrics like there's no tomorrow. My jaw drops. She never told me she could sing.

Shall I stay

_Would it be a sin?_

_But I can't help falling in love with you_

Her singing stops and a deeper male voice, coming from the stereo behind her, takes over.

Like a river flows to the sea, so it goes Some things are meant to be

And before I know it, Nikki takes the lead again, her voice slightly overlapping the other.

Some things are meant to be

_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

I close my eyes contently as I lean against the wall and listen to the rest of her song.

Wise men say, only fool rush in

_But I, I can't, I can't help…falling in love with you_

_(Male voice) Like a river flows to the sea, so it goes_

_Some things are meant to be_

_(Nikki) Some things are meant to be!_

_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

_Take my hand_

_Take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

_For I can't help falling in love…falling in love with you_

_Like a river flows, that's the way it goes_

_I just can't help falling in love with you (Falling in love with you_

_Like a river flows, that's the way it goes, _

_I just can't help falling in love with you (Falling in love with you)_

_Like a river flows, that's the way it goes,_

_I just can't help falling in love with you (Falling in love with you)_

_That's the way it goes I just can't but…_

_Falling in love with you._

Her singing and the music both simultaneously stop in time with the other. I am amazed at her talent. She has the potential to become a well-known composer if she chose to pursue her singing. But if she has chosen to hide it from most people, it would seem that fame is probably the last thing on her mind. My shoulder suddenly slips off the wall and I stumble forward. I see her look in my direction and I quickly back out of the room and dash down the corridor. Crap…did she see me?

(Nikki's POV)

A few seconds after I finish singing, I hear a noise near the back of the room. My eyes dart in time to see someone's silhouette make a hasty exit and I hear footsteps running down the hall. Was someone spying on me? I'll need to find who the culprit is; my music is very secret and precious to me. I don't just tell anyone about my musical heritage.

As quickly as possible, I place all the equipment back where I found it before running out of the auditorium. I look left and right but don't see or hear anything out of the ordinary. Damn…whoever that was had made a very swift getaway. I'll have to worry about the ratbag later then. Right now I have to worry about surviving the rest of the day until my night meeting with Kai. Which means avoiding both him and the stupid boy trying to control my life.

_(Later that night)_

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Kai had apparently made it his personal mission to avoid me at all costs. He was acting weird as hell. For example, at one point I accidentally ran into him turning a corner on my way to class. His eyes had looked everywhere but at my face as he stammered out an apology before hurriedly walking into the room. What in the freak was going on with him? And was that a blush I saw? He definitely owed me an explanation.

And Darren…well he was too occupied with flirting with every other female that moved or breathed, so I didn't have any trouble whatsoever staying out of his way. He was such a filthy hypocrite, threatening me to stay away from another guy when he's openly flirting with other girls that obviously _aren't _his girlfriend. The man makes me sick. I hope that one-day karma will bite him back for all that he's worth.

And now? It's currently eleven thirty at night; I'm sitting on the living room couch and waiting for the right moment to make my way to the park down the road. Lacus had long since gone to bed, but not before wishing me luck. Yeah so what if I told my sister? There's hardly anyone else that I trust more than her, I tell her _everything_. Tonight is no exception.

I glance at the clock again to see that it's now eleven forty five, I have fifteen minutes. I should really get going. I shakily stand to my feet and make my way to the front door. I take a deep breathe before opening the door and stepping outside. The soft, cool wind blows gently through my hair as I walk, my thoughts clouded with how this conversation might turn out. Just my turning up there was confirmation to both Kai and myself that I most definitely loved him. And I know that at some point I will be telling him how I feel about him. This night may turn out to be rather mushy, but strangely I don't really mind. I'm in love with a wonderful man and the rest of the world can go screw themselves for all I care. Love does strange things to one self.

Another five or so minutes of walking and I find myself on the soft grass of a quiet park. I gaze contently at my surroundings. What was usually filled with loud children was now a tranquil area where I can listen to nothing but the gentle breeze and insects chirping in the night. Another sound suddenly fills my ears, the crunching of grass underneath someone's footsteps as they slowly approach me. I whip around to face the newcomer, and am relieved to find myself once again under the gentle gaze of the one person I was waiting for. Well, he did actually startle me a little.

My body relaxes and I smile at him. "Hey."

He returns my smile. "Hi…you came."

"I feel I owe you an explanation."

He nods patiently at me. I take this as a sign to continue.

"You remember our dance at the party?" He nods again. "Well…Darren saw us. And he confronted me straight afterwards."

Kai shakes his head. "I had a feeling he had something to do with this."

I nod in confirmation. "He was determined to keep me as his girlfriend…and to drive the two of us apart. So he…he threatened me."

His eyes widen. "He _threatened _you? What did he say?"

I hug myself self-consciously as the memory of that night returns to my mind. "He said that if I didn't stay with him, that he would do something to horrible to you. And I know Darren well enough to know that if I disobeyed him, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt you, or even worse… kill you."

Tears threaten to break out as everything that happened since Friday night finally kicked in. My watery eyes remained glued to the ground until I feel two arms envelop me into a loving hug.

(Kai POV)

I listen in shock as Nikki reveals everything to me with tears sparkling in her eyes. This was why she had ignored my phone calls over the weekend and had completely ignored me all of yesterday. She was only trying to protect me. She was terrified that Darren would harm me in a fatal way if he ever saw as together. I want nothing more than to find that Edwards dweep right now and smash the hell out of him. He had threatened and blackmailed Nikki just to stop her from breaking up with him. And he was willing to hurt other people to keep her. How selfish can you get? But as much as I'm tempted to give him a piece of my mind, Nikki has just spilled her heart to me and she seems genuinely upset. I don't hesitate to comfort her as I step forward and tightly wrap my arms around her shaking figure.

I rub her back soothingly as I whisper in her ear. "What you did was very brave Nikki. You gave up your own happiness to keep me from danger, and I can't express just how grateful I am for that. Your selflessness has just reminded me all the more why I've fallen in love with you."

Her shaking thankfully stops after a little while. She pulls out of my embrace and lifts her head to look at me. Her blue eyes are shimmering slightly from her crying and I reach forward to wipe away a lone tear that was rolling down the side of her face. My hand stays where it is as I gently hold her cheek, stroking it delicately with my thumb. My love for her swells when she gently smiles at me.

"I love you, Kai."

(Nikki POV)

His words go straight to my heart. He has every reason to be angry at the way that I treated him, but instead he expresses how grateful he is and how much he loves me. If he weren't holding me, I'd probably burst into tears again. But he needs to know how I feel; I don't want this whole night to be completely one-sided. So I push myself away from him slightly and look at him, ready to tell him everything I have felt from day one. But before I even have the chance to open my mouth, his hand is resting on my cheek and he wipes away a tear I didn't even realize was there. His thumb then continues to gently stroke the same spot my tear once was.

I know this is my chance and I smile at him. "I love you, Kai."

He seems surprised for a moment, but his face relaxes and I can see the joy radiating from his face. "I love you too, Nikki."

I was planning on confessing more than that, but just those few simple words seem appropriate for now. We can talk more about our full feelings later.

But right now, it seems the time for talking is over. We're standing with barely an inch between us, our gazes are locked and his hand is still resting on my cheek. An invisible force seems to pull us together as our faces draw nearer to each other. I surrender to the sensation and my eyes flutter close. A content sigh escapes me as our lips connect for the first time. The kiss is soft at first, but that doesn't last long when I reach up to wrap my arms around his neck and it turns into a full blown, deep lip lock. He responds in kind and holds me tightly around my waist. His lips taste and feel as kissable as they've always looked and I can now happily say I have died and gone to heaven.

We continue our kiss for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. But one does need to breathe after a while so, quite reluctantly we slowly pull apart. I open my eyes to meet his. I can't help giving him a bright smile and I lunge forward to hug him. He catches me and spins me around, our laughter echoing through the park.

(Kai's POV)

This is what I've dreamt of from the very second that I met her. To hold and kiss her like I have done tonight. To hear her laughter and know I am the reason for her happiness. And now we are lying on the grass, her head is resting on my chest, our hands are entwined and sitting on my chest as we gaze at the stars above us.

My eyes turn back to her when she pulls her hand away and sits up to face me. My eyebrow rises when she gives me a scrutinizing stare. Uh oh…what did I do?

"You were acting very strange today, Rodgericks."

Yikes, use of surname. Act cool, Kai. It can't be anything serious. "Was I?"

She lowers her head so that its centimetres away from mine. This close proximity is usually rather pleasing but her leering gaze is scaring the hell out of me.

"Why were you acting so shifty and embarrassed more than usual around me? Are you hiding something from me?"

Her interrogation causes me to think. What would I have to hide from her? Oh…now I remember…I spied on her while she was singing. I did promise to myself that I would come clean once everything was clear between us.

So I look at her with a sheepish expression. "Well uh…" Here goes…

(Nikki POV)

My suspiciousness hits top climax when he looks at me with a guilty grin. My eyes narrow and I laugh to myself when I see him gulp. I just love watching men squirm.

"I was watching you sing."

I freeze and my mouth falls open. So someone was spying on me! I'm happy to know it was someone that I trust. But I don't really mind all that much, my voice is loud enough for the whole friggin school to hear. I shouldn't be so fussy about someone overhearing if I'm going to pelt out my lungs like I was. Poor Kai, he must've thought I was going to be furious. His scared expression suggested he'd done something a hundred times worse.

I shake my head and chuckle at him. "Oh Kai, is that all? I wouldn't be surprised if everyone heard that and came running. I wasn't exactly being very discreet about it."

He smiles up at me from his place on the grass. "Well you have a beautiful voice."

I blush from his praise, my brain unable to give him a verbal response. I decide to give him my thanks by leaning down and pressing my lips against his. My mind instantly turns to thoughtless mush as our mouths move perfectly against each other. This kissing business is extremely addictive, especially with someone like Kai who is one hell of a damn good kisser. If it weren't so late at night I would stay like this for several more hours.

But guessing it was nearing close to one in the morning, I know I need my sleep so I can survive through school. No I don't mean classes, I sleep through them no matter how much shuteye I get. I just don't want to walk around like the walking undead, wouldn't that be quite the comical sight? It would also mean a shorter temper on my part, so I don't think anyone would want to risk pushing any of my buttons. But I'd wager anything that my lovely best friend Jason would try anyway out of curiosity. Idiot.

I slowly pull away from the dreamy kiss I'm sharing with…can I call him my new official boyfriend? He gives me the most adorable pout. Aw that would make any girl melt.

I hear myself giggle at him. Now I'm friggin _giggling? _This man has an astonishing effect on me. I playfully tap him on the nose. "It's getting late, and we have school tomorrow…well, actually it's today."

He sighs in defeat. "I guess you're right."

I move myself off him to allow him to stand up. He then reaches down and pulls me to my feet as well. Our hands automatically seek each other, our fingers intertwining as we finally leave the park, feeling happier than we had in days. Along the way, Kai persistently insists that he drop me off at my door. I am objecting to his offers, in fear that we might be seen. We finally reach an agreement that we part ways across the road from my house so that he can watch to make sure I get inside safely. ME? What about him? He's the one Darren threatened to hurt! I voice this concern to Kai and he just waves it off, saying that he can take care of himself. It seems there's no arguing with him at this point.

We reach the sidewalk over the road from my house, and I am reluctant to say goodbye to him. How much longer will we have to sneak around like this? When will I be able to spend time with him again without having to look over my shoulder for Darren?

I walk forward and press myself into his chest. "I don't want this night to end."

He gently hugs me closer to him. "We'll find another opportunity. Just you wait."

I lean back to gaze desperately at him. "But when? Darren has spies everywhere."

He smiles reassuringly at me. "Don't worry about him, Nikki. We'll handle that when the time comes. Right now I just want to spend as much time with you as possible."

I'm so relieved with his words. He's taking this whole situation very well. He doesn't seem to care that his life is in danger. It scares me how much I love him. I reach up and hug him tightly. "I love you." I don't think I'll ever grow tired of saying that.

I hear the smile in his voice as he hugs me back and whispers. "I love you too."

I cling onto him for another minute before releasing him. We lean in to share one final kiss, our mouths lingering for a moment before separating. I walk away from him, our hands touching until they could longer reach each other. When I reach my gate, I turn to give him one last longing gaze. The tree he is standing under is dark so I am only able to see his shadowy figure. I turn away and walk across my lawn, determined not to look behind me again. I pause at the door, my hand lingering on the doorknob. No…don't, he must be long gone by now. Just open the damn door and go to bed. I begrudgingly obey my conscience and enter my house, rapidly shutting the door behind me. Phew…that was a close one.

Resisting the tempting urge to run back outside, I force myself towards the stairs that led towards my bedroom. Ah…bed, now that sounds like a nice idea. As much as I want to spend one more minute in Kai's arms, I am dead tired and just need some sleep. This whole fiasco has left me exhausted. After an eternity of climbing stairs, I finally manage to drag my feet into my room. Without bothering to even remove my clothes, I collapse onto my bed and fall asleep before my head has a chance to hit the pillow.

"Nikki! For goodness sake Nikki, WAKE UP!"

My eyes shoot open and I bolt upright in my bed. "What? Who goes there?"

"Finally! Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to get you up?"

I turn to see a rather…uh…irritated Lacus. Oh crap… What time is it? "Um…are we late?"

I cringe as she shrieks at me. "Yes we're late! Half an hour late! Now get your sorry behind out of bed and get dressed!"

"You know you could've left without me! School's only a few blocks away!" She ignores my yells and storms out of my room. Well I can gratefully say this isn't the first time this has happened, but I don't see why she can't make her own way to school. But then again, this could be her way of making sure that I _get _to school. If I had my way I wouldn't even attend. It's thanks to my sister that I arrive there before the bell…most of the time.

I look down to see I still have my clothes on from last night, which immediately brings back fresh memories of my night with Kai. It's going to be really hard to pretend to avoid him today. Maybe we can organise something in homeroom today, we do have to sit next to each other. These thoughts race through my mind as I strip off the clothes I fell asleep in, and throw on my school uniform. I quickly brush and straighten out my long hair (I've had years of practise doing this), grab my bag and zoom downstairs. Lacus is already way ahead of me and is walking down the street. Guess she's still a bit miffed at me. I follow behind with a safe distance between us so I don't aggravate her further. I know that when Lacus gets like this, it's best to give her some space; otherwise she'll just blow up at me again and it's back to square one. My sister isn't as patient and innocent as most people might think. I've seen all sides of her, both good and bad. Trust me…you don't want to see her worst…I barely escaped with mental scars that will haunt me forever.

As expected, the grounds are empty when we arrive. Without as much as a 'have a nice day,' Lacus walks off to her class. Surely she can't be _that _angry can she? I shrug; I'll have to work it out with her later. These little fuses with her never last anyway. Having my timetable memorized, my feet automatically took me to where my class was. This is going to be fun.

My stomach hurts from laughter so much I can barely breathe! I clutch my hands to it in a desperate attempt to keep it under control. Oh…guess you'd like to know what's so funny huh? Well my first classes are nothing but a very vague blur right now; all I remember is a non-too-pleased teacher and a very amused Kai. Yes you cheeky sod, you're the reason I slept in so late. After that rather uneventful class, I made sure to leave class before he did. We whispered an agreement during the lecture to meet again on Friday night, this time at eleven. As much as we wanted to see each other more often, we didn't want to be too obvious, so we figured once every few days was soon enough without either of us becoming too desperate. Yes we miss each other all right? We can't help it if we're hopelessly head over heels for each other.

Moving on to the cause of my laughing condition. It happened during break. Her Royal Wenchness Allster had finally decided to make another appearance. But instead of just clinging to Kira, and simply glaring at my sister, she did something ten times worse. Here is what occurred

I approached our usual area, and was confused to see that my sister was nowhere in sight. That's weird because she's always there way before I am. Even Kira was there and he was chatting away to his best mate Athrun like there was nothing out of the ordinary. I stood up and made my way over to him.

"Oi! Kira!"

I saw him jump slightly and whirl around to face me. When he saw who it was, his eyes visibly widened in fear. Gee wiz.

I folded my arms. "Where's my sister?"

He relaxed at my words. "Oh…she's grabbing something from her locker. She said she needed it for her next class."

Oh is that where she is? I grinned at him. "Cheers" And I walked away. Both his and Athrun's expressions were priceless. Some men are just a bunch of spineless wimps. My mind went from entertained to white-hot anger the moment I turned the next corner. There was Allster with her two followers, Dumb and Dumber. Oh I haven't introduced them have I? Meer Campbell and Gwen Wilkinson, two girls that were often seen with Allster and always followed her lead in everything. Why? Their goal is, apparently, to sleep with all the best looking guys in the school before graduation. Which is a bit sad since they're all a year younger than Kai and myself and won't be graduating until _next _year. And who are their targets? Well as you've probably guessed, Allster has her sights set on Kira. And it appears my sister is the only person standing in her way. As for the other two…I'm not entirely sure, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that Campbell girl lingering around Athrun. Not a wise idea girly, you don't want an angry Cagalli. Why don't you be a smart person and choose life instead? I have no clue what poor sod is Wilkinson's prey, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her.

These three Mean Girls had my poor sister surrounded and I could hear the swearing and nasty threats they were giving her. I knew not to intervene until things spiralled out of control. We were after all on school grounds. So I waited patiently to see whether or not Allster would decide to be a wise-ass.

My anger boiled when her face sneered into a snarl. "I'm warning you Clyne! Stay away from Kira, he's mine!"

I swelled with pride as Lacus stood her ground. "I'm sorry Miss Allster, I cannot stay away from the person I'm in love with."

My internal volcano finally erupted when Allster grabbed Lacus' collar and shoved her up against the locker. No one…and I mean NO ONE harasses my sister! Against my raging emotions, I calmly stride up to the four girls. Campbell and Wilkinson had seen me coming and were now trying to pull their leader away. But she didn't seem to listen and continued to abuse my trembling sister.

Ok this stops right now! I could feel my mouth twisting into a snarl. "Allster…what do you think you're doing?"

Now this next part is the reason why I couldn't, and am still failing miserably to stop laughing so much. I watched with satisfaction as Allster visibly froze. She released her hold on Lacus's shirt like it had caught on fire. She turns to me, her and her friends looking very much like frightened deer that had just been caught by headlights. But while my sub-conscience was hiding a smug smirk, my eyes were glaring at Allster hard enough to burn her to a crisp.

"Well? Answer me! Tell me why I walk over here to find you three bullying my sister!"

Her two lackeys were very, clearly terrified as they hid behind Allster for shelter from my wrath. Being their leader, Allster appeared to think she needed to be the brave one. She did her best to glare back at me and stood up straight to face me. Oh please, like you could ever scare me, shrimp. I'm taller than you and your shivering guinea pigs combined. But I had to give her credit for trying.

"You c-c-can't order me around Clyne! This g-g-girl is in my w-w-way! Now I s-s-suggest you move out of m-my way before s-someone gets hurt!"

Ok the threat and insult in that one sentence pissed me off. But all that stuttering was frigging hilarious, made me wonder if she rehearsed it. My restraint finally lost grip of my temper and it was my turn to grab her shirt and bash her against the locker. Only difference was, Lacus remained on the floor the entire time. I had Allster off her feet way above my own head.

"Don't get smart with me Allster! I'm warning you now! If I see you anywhere near Lacus again I'll make what I'm doing to you now look like heaven compared to the hell I'll put you through! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

I think I might've scared away all coherent thought from her brain. I'm pretty sure she wet herself as well. She let out a little whimper and finally nodded her head. I let her go and she fell hard onto the floor. She shakily stood up with the help of her friends and before I knew it they had scampered away from me and disappeared around a corner. And that was when I lost it. Laughter erupted from my throat and I've been unable to stop ever since. I am sitting on my usual bench, bent over with tears pouring down my face. Lacus has long since given up on calming me down and was sitting next to me with her face buried in her hand. She had to be the one to explain to our friends what had happened, I am unable to speak or even think properly with the current fit that I'm in right now. And I'm not the only person in our group that found it hilarious. Echo, Cagalli and Jason were all howling the moment they heard the story, but were a lot quicker to calm down than I was. Kira was more focused on making sure my sister was all right, and I even heard him promise her that he planned on breaking up with Allster for good. Ah music to my ears. Athrun and Jenny just shook their heads at the obscurity of it all; they always did act more maturely with situations like these. Lacus even made an effort to walk over to Kai to talk to him as well, and I was happy to see him let out a chuckle.

My laughing eventually dies down and I wipe away the remaining tears. Oh boy that felt good. My sister turns to speak to me. "You ok now Nikki?"

I may have calmed down, but I still have a grin spread across my face. "Sure am! That was awesome!"

She rolls her eyes at me. "Don't you think you overreacted a little? It wasn't _that _funny."

Ouch, the girl knows where to hit where it hurts. "Aw come on Lacus! I wasn't going to let her push you around like that! Besides didn't you see? She friggin wet herself! And the way they scurried away like dogs with their tails between their legs." Oh crap…I'm going to start up again.

Lacus doesn't seem to find this amusing. "And I appreciate how you watch out for me Nikki, but it wouldn't have been much different with anyone else. You have this dark aura around you every time you get angry that people just want to run away from."

I have a dark aura? No wonder people are scared of me. "What colour is it?"

She sighs. "It's not visible."

I grin. "I know I'm just playing around with you."

Which reminds me… I need to ask her about this morning.

"Say… Lacus?

"Yes?"

"Did I piss you off this morning? You were pretty angry."

I watch her shoulders slump. "I'm sorry about that Nikki. While you were out last night, I received a phone call from Miss Allster."

What the hell? "Allster called you? How in the hell did she even get a hold of your number?"

"I'm not sure, but she spent half an hour swearing at me and warning me that if I didn't stop seeing Kira that she'd…"

Her eyes suddenly widen and before I know it, she collapses against me in hysterics. My arms shoot out to hold her so she doesn't fall off her seat. Hang on…what just happened? What's so funny?

"Um…Lacus? What did she say she would do?"

She manages to gasp out words that I barely understand. "She said that…(giggle)…that she'd…(giggle)…send Miss Wilkinson and Miss Campbell to…(giggle)…beat you up after school!"

And I've lost her…wait did she say Wilkinson and Campbell? Allster was going to send _them _to beat me up? I laugh alongside my sister. That was the most absurd thing I've heard all year. How can she hope those two sheep of hers will stand a chance against me if they too scared to even stand up to one of my glares?

Her giggles subside after a little while and she's able to speak again. "Anyway…I'm sorry about my behaviour this morning, sis. All that was in my head was how rudely she spoke of Kira. All she plans to do is sleep with him before she graduates. She doesn't even love him!"

I nod in agreement. "Oh I know all about that." I sling a sisterly arm over her shoulder. "Don't you worry sis! Before this year is even finished, I'm going to make sure both Allster and Edwards are out of our lives and we are both dating the men that we love."

Lacus smiles happily at me. "Sounds like a dream come true!"

To be quite honest, I'm not sure how much longer this charade is going to carry on. I'm not too worried about Allster; I have no problem handling her like I did today. My main concern right now is to avoid Edwards (I've made a habit of calling him that lately, he is undeserving of my calling him of his first name) and coming up with a strategy so I can finally end things with him for good. I also need to figure out how I'm going to accomplish this without any harm coming to Kai. Seems I have quite the challenge ahead of me.

Let the games begin.

End of Chapter 


End file.
